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Jumia Explains Its Black Friday Concept

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If you didn’t know any better you would think Black Friday was a national worldwide holiday. Such is the level of global excitement and anticipation channelled towards it by enthusiastic shoppers who know that on that faithful day, they have the rare opportunity of grabbing a wide range of top quality products for just a fraction of their standard market price.

According to Jumia Nigeria, “Black Friday has grown to become a worldwide craze with last year providing us with some staggering figures”.

With reference to the United States of America alone recorded 141 million shoppers on Black Friday who spent a whopping $57.4 billion buying their desired products at markdown prices.

That is almost all of Bill Gates money spent up in just 24 hours.

In the UK, individuals spent an average of 15.3 hours shopping online during Black Friday. You begin to wonder how they managed to fit in work, sleep, and eating into the remaining 8.7 hours of their day.

In Canada, shops and malls opened as early as 12am in a bid to cater for and reduce the teeming numbers of customers who had camped outside their stores looking to secure the best deals. News even made the rounds that some people had taken to travelling (by road, water or air) to neighboring countries with the aim of grabbing bargains they knew they could not get in their country. Talk about International Trade!

Last year in Nigeria, the whole nation was left in a state of frenzy with the news that Nigeria would be embarking on its first ever online Black Friday sale.

The sale which was organized by Nigeria’s number one retailer, Jumia.com afforded Nigerians the opportunity to experience deals and discounts that even their online counterparts in the US and elsewhere would be envious of.

According to Jumia, it witnessed an unprecedented amount of web traffic with thousands of unique visitors storming to their website during the course of the day.

“The IT department was left cursing their luck as they had their hands full soliciting for and engaging their back up servers to help accommodate the heavy traffic. This year it would not be farfetched to hear that the number of visitors had quadrupled,” the leading online retailer said in a statement.

Black Friday can best be described as a blessing; some have gone as far as describing it as the Christmas before Christmas.

This year Nigerians have the chance once again to stock up their homes, offices, places of worships, schools and more with much needed merchandises for just a fraction of their initial budget. People who have been saving up for Christmas will realize they have the chance to splurge and still save a lot all thanks to this significant day.

Nigerians who participated in the sale last year went on social media websites like Facebook and Twitter bragging about the bargains they had snagged.

Talk like “I didn’t believe Jumia would really sell such an outstanding phone for such an outrageous price”, “I almost could not believe my eyes when I logged on to Jumia this morning”, and many other testimonies of such littered the cyber world during that period.

Other lesser known online retail stores in Nigeria also jumped on the trend with promised deals that customers later accused of being hoaxes with a few of these websites crashing to the dismay of anticipating shoppers.

Aminat Abdul, one of the Jumia Black Friday 2013 shoppers described her experience by saying ‘It is one of my best shopping experiences ever.

“The prices were unbelievable and for a second I considered calling Jumia to inform them that they seemed to have put up wrong prices then I remembered it was Black Friday; I bought a lot more than I thought I would and still didn’t go over my budget. I was very impressed. Now for me, Black Friday has become the day I look forward to the most all year round’.

Tunde Ogunyomi, a Jumia supplier said, “It was almost too good to be true. On that single day I was able to rake in the type of profit I could only expect to make for the duration of a full month. I even had problems taking account of the amount of stock I supplied on that day. The influx of orders was overwhelming. This year I am very much prepared. For the first time ever I have counted all my chickens before they have hatched *laughs*.

 


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E-Business

Galaxy Backbone Celebrates the Federal Government’s Paperless Civil Service Milestone

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Galaxy Backbone (GBB) aligns with and celebrates the successful announcement by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation on the achievement of a Paperless Civil Service, a significant milestone in Nigeria’s public sector reform and digital transformation agenda.

The milestone was formally highlighted at a press briefing led by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, who commended Galaxy Backbone for its sustained support and contribution throughout the implementation of the programme.

GBB has played a critical role in enabling this transition by providing secure, scalable, and shared digital infrastructure that supports the digitisation of government processes across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). Through the 1Government Cloud, MDAs have been empowered to migrate from paper-based workflows to digital platforms, improving efficiency, collaboration, data security, and service delivery across the Federal Civil Service.

In addition, GovMail, GBB’s secure government email platform, has strengthened official communication, enhanced records management, and reinforced cybersecurity standards—key pillars in sustaining a paperless operating environment.

Galaxy Backbone acknowledges the collective efforts of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Permanent Secretaries, Directors of ICT, consultants, partners, and dedicated public servants whose commitment and collaboration ensured the smooth delivery of this initiative.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy Backbone, Prof. Ibrahim Adeyanju, was represented at the press briefing by Akintayo Bamisaye, Acting Group Head, Research, Digital Innovation and Skills Department (RDIS).

GBB describes the achievement as a strong close to 2025 and reaffirms its commitment to supporting the Federal Government in building a modern, efficient, and digitally enabled public service.


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Jumia CEO says Black Friday Signals Nigeria’s E-Commerce Maturity

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At the close of 2025, Temidayo Ojo, the CEO of Jumia Nigeria, reflected on a year-end shopping season that points to the growing maturity of the country’s e-commerce market. “Black Friday is no longer a single, short-lived spike in activity,” he said.

“It has become a familiar, anticipated moment in the retail calendar, where consumers shop deliberately and with confidence.”

Preliminary KPIs for the two months ended November 30, 2025, show strong year-on-year growth in both orders and Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), with GMV growth outpacing order growth. This indicates that customers are placing fuller, more considered baskets rather than shopping in fragmented transactions. Nigeria ranked among Jumia Group’s better-performing markets, with engagement remaining steady throughout the Black Friday period rather than spiking briefly and tapering off.

A key factor behind this performance is the growing familiarity of consumers with online shopping. Customers are increasingly leveraging platform features such as saved carts, brand stores, and price comparison tools to plan purchases in advance. This trend suggests that digital commerce is becoming embedded in everyday habits rather than being viewed as a one-off event.

Ojo also highlighted the role of Jumia’s JForce network in connecting digital commerce to local communities. “Our agents are critical to ensuring that customers across Nigeria, including secondary cities and smaller communities, have access to variety, consistent pricing, and reliable delivery,” he said. “During peak periods like Black Friday, JForce agents can respond faster, serve more customers efficiently, and build stronger local relationships. This isn’t just a distribution channel—it’s a pathway to sustainable income and inclusion.”

Reflecting on the overall performance, the CEO concluded: “What we’re seeing this year-end is steady engagement across categories, stronger consumer confidence, and partners like our JForce agents benefiting from increased activity.

“It confirms that Nigeria’s e-commerce ecosystem is maturing, growing in a more structured and resilient way. As the December Holiday Sale continues, we expect these patterns of familiarity, trust, and participation to sustain momentum and drive both commerce and community impact across the country.”


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Galaxy Backbone Tops FG’s Website Performance Ranking

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Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB) has been ranked first overall in the 2025 Federal Government Website Performance Scorecard.

Galaxy Backbone Tops FG's Website Performance Ranking

This is a landmark achievement for Nigeria’s digital economy.

The ranking, conducted by the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), is the definitive benchmark for digital excellence and transparency across all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).

Professor Ibrahim Adepoju Adeyanju, managing director and CEO of Galaxy Backbone, received the award during a ceremony in Abuja.

He described the feat as a validation of the agency’s“Nigeria First”data sovereignty strategy and its relentless pursuit of service excellence.

This recognition comes as the Federal Government intensifies its push to achieve a fully paperless civil service by December 31, 2025.

GBB has been the primary architect of this transition through its 1Gov Enterprise Content Management (ECM) platform, which now hosts the operations of almost all federal MDAs.

The award adds to a growing list of accolades for Galaxy Backbone in 2025, following its recent win of the “International Standard Excellence Award for Best IT Service Provider.”

As the central hub for government shared services, GBB’s performance serves as a blueprint for other agencies currently undergoing digital transformation.

With its expanded fiber-optic backbone now covering over 13 states and its secure cloud solutions, Galaxy Backbone remains the cornerstone of Nigeria’s vision to become a leading digital nation by the end of the decade.

 


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