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JUMIA, one of the leading e-commerce retailers in Nigeria, on October 10, 2013, won the award for “The Best Retail Launch of the Year” at the World Retail Congress in Paris, France. The recognition confers on JUMIA the first African company to be so honoured.

Other nominees in this category were Hedonism Wines, Presso, Quem disse, Berenice?, t.riciclo and Zalora. The event was organised by the publishing company, EMAP, with a theme that focused on brainstorming on the issues affecting the retail industry worldwide such as social, economic, political and ethical concerns. Past winners of the award include brands such as ASOS, Migros, NikeTown, Woolworths and Zappos.com.

JUMIA’s products are sold online, via a mobile app or on cash delivery spots – which is a departure from traditional retail operations and customer service. Ian McGarrigle, Chairman, World Retail Congress, explained in reference to JUMIA’s outstanding performance: “We are delighted with the wide international reach of this year’s winners and that for the first time, we are presenting an award to an African retailer.” According to World Retail Congress’s jury, JUMIA has distinguished itself in the African retail industry through its ubiquitous and guerilla marketing, deployment of IT tools, and key focus on efficient operations – factors that are impacting on the company’s growth rate positively. The co-founders of JUMIA, Tunde Kehinde and Raphael Afaedor, explained: “We owe this landmark feat to the Nigerian market who since day one have supported us all the way through the very encouraging feedback and patronage; we clearly wouldn’t be honored this way without them. This also shows that Jumia Nigeria has risen beyond the ranks and has gone far beyond a start-up company with even more greater heights yet to be achieved. There are bigger plans for our customers and this will remain our focus.”