Economy
Africa’s e-Commerce Market is 5% of Total Retail—Anammah
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The chairwoman of Jumia Nigeria, Ms Juliet Anammah, has said Africa’s e-commerce market has remained largely untapped, accounting for just 5 per cent of the total retail.
However, she expressed optimism that her organisation will work hard to close the gap by expanding footprints in its current verticals.
Speaking in a recent interview with Darius Teeter of Stanford Seed, she said more tech companies are trooping into the African market, thus opening up more possibilities in the e-commerce space.
Between 2014 and 2018, the number of online shoppers on the African continent was said to have increased annually, at an average growth rate of 18 per cent, higher than the global average of 12 per cent.
Statista puts the number of digital buyers in Africa at 281 million in 2020, estimating an increase to 520 million by 2025.
However, the current number of active users on Africa’s largest e-commerce platform stands at 7 million, thus showing the huge market gap yet to be explored on the continent.
“All said and done, we are the largest e-commerce platform on the continent, and you are on the continent where e-commerce is still 2-5 per cent of total retail, which is a huge upside.
“This is a huge area to focus on rather than look into new verticals. Now we are deepening our footprints within the countries we are in, and we are for now concentrating on those 11 countries,” she said.
Given the vast untapped market, e-commerce brands deploy innovative ways to explore the unique African business terrain. Jumia has the JForce network that helps push online shopping services in rural communities. The company recently expanded its footprints by taking hubs and pickup stations closer to customers in different communities across Nigeria.
On Jumia’s initiatives to further deepen market reach and acceptance, Ms Anammah said, “We are working to bring more sellers and brands to the platform.
“Another area we want to focus on is the shift from high-value products to everyday products, essentials and consumables. That’s where we are deepening our presence.
“We already saw sales of consumables growing on our platform. Last year we saw that sugar and pears had record sales in some countries, unlike before where it might have been an electronic product.”
Touching on the impact of COVID-19 on e-commerce on the continent, she stated that the effect of the pandemic on sales was more of a blip, as the continent was already on a trajectory.
“I think the pandemic was a blip in Africa. COVID-19 was not a determinant in the growth of e-commerce on the continent; rather, e-commerce had been on a trajectory given that you have over 500 million internet users and Africa is a mobile-first environment.
“So, it’s almost like Africans have been hungry to do more with their mobile phones, and e-commerce happens to be one of those areas.
“If there’s an area I think there was more awareness of the potential of e-commerce was in the public policy and agency where they discovered that this is something that can be leveraged for job creation and economic development as a whole,” she added.
Ms Anammah noted that governments and agencies in Africa have been supportive of e-commerce and “are doing their best to see that companies like us are operating well.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Tinubu on Friday presented a budget proposal of N58.47 trillion for the 2026 fiscal year titled Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity to a joint session of the National Assembly, with capital recurrent (non‑debt) expenditure standing at 15.25 trillion, and the capital expenditure at N26.08 trillion, while the crude oil benchmark was pegged at $64.85 per barrel.
Business Post reports that the Brent crude grade currently trades around $60 per barrel. It is also expected to trade at that level or lower next year over worries about oil glut.
At the budget presentation today, Mr Tinubu said the expected total revenue for the year is N34.33 trillion, and the proposal is anchored on a crude oil production of 1.84 million barrels per day, and an exchange rate of N1,400 to the US Dollar.
In terms of sectoral allocation, defence and security took the lion’s share with N5.41 trillion, followed by infrastructure at N3.56 trillion, education received N3.52 trillion, while health received N2.48 trillion.
Addressing the lawmakers, the President described the budget proposal as not “just accounting lines”.
“They are a statement of national priorities,” the president told the gathering. “We remain firmly committed to fiscal sustainability, debt transparency, and value‑for‑money spending.”
The presentation came at a time of heightened insecurity in parts of the country, with mass abductions and other crimes making headlines.
Outlining his government’s plan to address the challenge, President Tinubu reminded the gathering that security “remains the foundation of development”.
He said some of the measures in place to tame insecurity include the modernisation of the Armed Forces, intelligence‑driven policing and joint operations, border security, and technology‑enabled surveillance and community‑based peacebuilding and conflict prevention.
“We will invest in security with clear accountability for outcomes—because security spending must deliver security results,” the president said.
“To secure our country, our priority will remain on increasing the fighting capability of our armed forces and other security agencies by boosting personnel and procuring cutting-edge platforms and other hardware,” he added.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The deadline for the recapitalisation of the Nigerian pension industry has been extended by six months to June 2027 from December 2026.
This extension was approved by the National Pension Commission (PenCom), the agency, which regulates the sector in the country.
Addressing newsmen on Thursday in Lagos, the Director-General of PenCom, Ms Omolola Oloworaran, explained that the shift in deadline was to give operators more time to boost the capital base, dismissing speculations that the exercise had been suspended.
“The recapitalisation has not been suspended. We have communicated the requirements to the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), and we expect every operator to be compliant by June 2027. Anyone who is not compliant by then will lose their licence,” Ms Oloworaran told journalists.
She added that, “From a regulatory standpoint, our major challenge is ensuring compliance. We are working with ICPC, labour and the TUC to ensure employers remit pension contributions for their employees.”
The DG noted that engagements with industry operators indicated broad acceptance of the policy, with many PFAs already taking steps to raise additional capital or explore mergers and acquisitions.
“You may see some mergers and acquisitions in the industry, but what is clear is that the recapitalisation exercise is on track and the industry agrees with us,” she stated.
PenCom wants the PFAs to increase their capital base and has created three categories, with the first consists operators with Assets Under Management of N500 billion and above. They are expected to have a minimum capital of N20 billion and one per cent of AUM above N500 billion.
The second category has PFAs with AUM below N500 billion, which must have at least N20 billion as capital base.
The last segment comprises special-purpose PFAs such as NPF Pensions Limited, whose minimum capital was pegged at N30 billion, and the Nigerian University Pension Management Company Limited, whose minimum capital was fixed at N20 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Three securities weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.68 per cent on Thursday, December 18.
According to data, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc led the losers’ group after it slipped by N2.87 to N36.78 per share from N39.65 per share, Golden Capital Plc depreciated by 77 Kobo to end at N6.98 per unit versus the previous day’s N7.77 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc dropped 19 Kobo to sell at N60.00 per share versus Wednesday’s closing price of N60.19 per share.
At the close of business, the market capitalisation lost N16.81 billion to finish at N2.147 billion compared with the preceding session’s N2.164 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) declined by 24.76 points to 3,589.88 points from 3,614.64 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities bought and sold increased by 49.3 per cent to 30.5 million units from 20.4 million units, the value of securities surged by 211.8 per cent to N225.1 million from N72.2 million, and the number of deals jumped by 33.3 per cent to 28 deals from 21 deals.
Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc remained the most traded stock by value with a year-to-date sale of 5.8 billion units valued at N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 178.9 million units transacted for N9.5 billion, and MRS Oil Plc with 36.1 million units worth N4.9 billion.
Similarly, InfraCredit Plc ended as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units traded for N16.4 billion, trailed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.7 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units exchanged for N524.9 million.
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