Jumia Becomes The First African Start-up To List on the New York Stock Exchange

A Nigerian E-commerce platform, Jumia is to become the first African start-up to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange .

Jumia could go public on the NYSE as early as April.

The company was valued at $1 billion in 2016, offers a range of online goods and has branched into food delivery, hotel and flight booking and mobile tariffs. It partners with more than 50,000 local African companies and individuals and is a direct competitor to Kilimall in Kenya and Konga. It faces a stiffer competition to with the likes of Alibaba and Amazon.

It had four million active consumers at the end of 2018.

The online retailer was founded in Lagos by two French entrepreneurs in 2012 and now offers services to most of the African population, in countries such as South Africa, Tanzania, Egypt and Ivory Coast .

Its largest shareholder is MTN, Africa’s biggest telecoms company .

No share price or valuation has been given but there is speculation Jumia could be valued at $1.5 billion, despite the fact that it reported a loss of 170m euros ( $192m ) in 2018 .

In documents filed in New York, Jumia warned it could not guarantee achieving or sustaining profitability in the future, citing challenges such as a robbery at its Kenyan warehouse , which saw merchandise worth $560,000 stolen.

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