Brands/Products
Excitement as Jumia Nigeria Food Festival Begins
By Dipo Olowookere
Foodies and food vendors in the country are currently excited on the commencement of a Food Festival Campaign organised by Jumia Nigeria.
The festival was put together to promote the adoption of a meal and food ordering among consumers, which has become increasingly popular in the last few years in three major cities of Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
The event hopes to support restaurant businesses and the overall food ecosystem, as these have been severely affected by COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, resulting in less capacity, fewer opening hours, and sometimes shutdowns.
According to the organisers, the food festival, which started on October 2, will end on October 31, 2020, and discounts of up to 50 per cent and free delivery will be offered to consumers on food, beverages and supermarket purchases as part of the event. Additional 5 per cent discounts will be made available on orders placed using JumiaPay.
In order to make the experience memorable, Jumia has partnered with local restaurants such as Chicken Republic, Indomie Cafe, The Place, etc., and alcoholic beverage companies such as Diageo, Bacardi, Pernod Ricard and supermarkets, as well as blue-chip international restaurants such as KFC.
As part of the festival, Jumia Nigeria will be hosting on its platform a wide variety of convenience food suppliers including grocery shops, bakeries as well as a broad range of restaurants and cuisines.
More than 4,000 local and international restaurants and food stores are expected to be part of this event, Jumia said in the statement.
“For this Festival, we’re focusing on three major neighbourhoods or cities, such as Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt.
“The food festival is a great opportunity for all food vendors in Nigeria – big and small, international and local – to engage with consumers online and offer them more convenience and value, in line with the theme of this year’s World Food Day celebration of Grow, Nourish, Sustain Together.
“We have been partnering with local restaurants and supermarkets, and some blue-chip international restaurants for many years now.
“Many of them have been through tough times over the past few months and are still suffering from the restrictions imposed as part of COVID-19 measures.
“At the same time, consumers are more and more mindful of social distancing and increasingly turn to online delivery. We invite every consumer to try the service and by doing so also support local restaurants and food vendors, who are providing jobs to the communities,” said Jumia Nigeria CEO, Mr Massimiliano Spalazzi.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
To make finding the right service provider or reaching the right customer seamless, popular local information portal, Connect Nigeria, has introduced a Quote Request platform.
Connect Nigeria described the new system as “a digital solution designed to make connecting with service providers faster, easier, and more reliable.”
It said the Quote Request was built for consumers who need services quickly and want trusted options without the stress of searching endlessly; and service providers and businesses looking for real, high-intent customers without spending heavily on marketing.
“Whether you need a caterer for an event, a plumber for your home, or a designer for your brand, the platform is designed to connect you with the right people,” Connect Nigeria added.
“By connecting demand directly with supply, the platform creates a more structured and dependable marketplace,” it further stated.
At its core, the Quote Request simplifies the entire process of finding and offering services.
To use the service, users have to submit a request describing the service or product needed, which is then sent to verified vendors on the platform. Interested providers respond within 1–2 days, and users compare offers and choose what works best for their needs and budget.
“Instead of searching for vendors, the vendors come to you, with relevant, tailored responses,” Connect Nigeria explained.
The company expects this new platform to eliminate the stress of endless online searches, delayed or vague responses, and uncertainty about service quality.
As for businesses, it solves poor visibility, inconsistent customer flow, and lost opportunities due to slow response times.
Connect Nigeria Quote Request mobile app is now available on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
An institutional investor, First Ally Capital, has strengthened a leading Nigerian financial technology company, Mathesis Analytics, to scale its proprietary credit decisioning infrastructure.
It made this possible by injecting fresh capital into the firm, which specialises in AI-powered credit decisioning infrastructure, an action that will directly support the growth and scaling of Mathesis’ core mission of providing the intelligence and infrastructure needed to bridge the credit gap for millions of unscored or underscored individuals across Nigeria.
With this investment, Mathesis will enable financial institutions to confidently assess and extend credit to borrowers who lack a formal credit history by leveraging an expanded pool of alternative behavioural and transactional data.
To date, Mathesis’ systems have supported more than 8 million loans for over 2 million unique borrowers in Nigeria, and the company is actively deploying its infrastructure to establish a growing pan-African footprint.
With the investment from First Ally Capital, Mathesis is well positioned to transform how the credit ecosystem operates, driving financial inclusion in partnership with lenders across the continent.
A significant barrier to credit access in Nigeria, which prides itself on being Africa’s largest economy, is data fragmentation. Borrowers frequently build positive financial behaviours across multiple digital platforms by repaying microfinance loans, saving through fintech wallets, or servicing Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) facilities.
However, under traditional credit infrastructure, these achievements remain invisible to new lenders.
Mathesis addresses this challenge through the concept of Personal Equity—the quantified expression of an individual’s financial behaviour aggregated across every institution with which they have transacted.
By translating these disparate signals into a precise, portable measure of creditworthiness, Mathesis creates a comprehensive credit identity that reflects the full breadth of a person’s financial life.
“True financial inclusion cannot be achieved in a vacuum; it requires structural collaboration in which lenders and fintech companies work as partners within the ecosystem.
“This investment from First Ally Capital validates our approach to reshaping credit infrastructure. By quantifying Personal Equity, we empower lenders to safely look beyond the constraints of formal credit histories and recognise a borrower’s true creditworthiness. This capital enables us to accelerate our pan-African expansion while maintaining the robust, institutional-grade infrastructure our partners rely on,” the chief executive of Mathesis Analytics, Winston Osuchukwu, stated.
On his part, the chief executive of First Ally Capital, Mr Ebenezer Olufowose, said, “At First Ally Capital, we pride ourselves on being a one-stop destination for financial solutions, offering a diverse portfolio of services ranging from investment banking and asset management to trusteeship, inclusive banking, and real estate.
“Our investment in Mathesis Analytics reflects our strong belief in the company’s vision and our commitment to supporting forward-thinking enterprises that deliver excellence.”
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The chief executive of Canal+ Africa, Mr David Mignot, has disclosed that MultiChoice is now fully integrated into the media group.
Mr Mignot disclosed this via a statement issued on Thursday, noting that this development marks a new phase in the evolution of one of Africa’s leading pay television operators.
He noted that the integration positions MultiChoice within a global media organisation with an extensive international footprint.
“MultiChoice is now a full subsidiary of a truly international media group operating in 70 countries. The group was founded in France, is listed in London and Johannesburg, and has a strong African presence with operations in more than 45 countries,” Mr Mignot said.
The statement underscores the scale of the combined business, highlighting Canal+’s global reach alongside its significant investments across Africa.
The completion of the transaction is expected to strengthen MultiChoice’s position in the African media and entertainment market by giving it access to the broader resources, expertise and international capabilities of the Canal+ Group, while reinforcing the group’s commitment to the continent.
MultiChoice operates across sub-Saharan Africa through platforms including DStv and GOtv, serving millions of subscribers with entertainment, sports and news content.
