Jumia Nigeria has launched its Black Friday deals and offers as consumers in smaller towns and villages nationwide now have access to its shopping experiences.

The company disclosed that it is expanding e-commerce access bearing in mind that the prevalent economic downturn in the country is having its tolls on many Nigerians, especially those in rural communities.

It disclosed that the campaign will run from November 1st to November 30th, 2024 with the theme ‘No Too Calculate’.

Reiterating its commitment to creating a simpler, stress-free shopping experience for Nigerians amid economic challenges, Jumia promised to allow consumers to enjoy great savings without budgetary worries.

Disclosing that this year’s Black Friday campaign is supported by Xiaomi as the platinum partner, alongside renowned brands such as Oraimo, Nivea, Infinix, Tecno, Itel, Haier Thermocool, Binatone, Pernod Ricard, Diageo, Bacardi, Hikers, Ecoflow, Skyrun, Glamstar, Ledrop, Unilever, Macallan, LG, and others, the CEO, Jumia Nigeria, Sunil Natraj stressed that the campaign is about making e-commerce more accessible to consumers in Nigeria.

Recognising the current economic situation in the country , Natraj said Jumia has worked closely with its brand partners to offer the best possible deals to consumers during this period.

According to him, Jumia expanded its network of Pickup Stations to ensure that even more consumers, regardless of their location, can benefit from the convenience of online shopping.

Harping on the company’s priority of creating real value for both its consumers and sellers through its extensive ecosystem, the CEO said those in rural areas would easily participate in the online shopping and get their delivery seamlessly.

For the Country Manager, Xiaomi Nigeria, Xingyu Yang, everyone deserves access to the latest cutting-edge technology, noting that Jumia Black Friday is the perfect opportunity for consumers to experience Xiaomi’s nnovative products at unbeatable prices.

He said since Jumia introduced Black Friday to Nigeria in 2014, the company has continued to unlock new opportunities for both consumers and businesses, expressing confidence that Nigeria will play a pivotal role in projection that online shopping in Africa will reach $75 billion by 2025.

He added that the Black Friday campaign serves as a powerful platform for international and local brands as well as SMEs to expand their reach and boost sales.

To make the online shopping and delivery easier, Yang stated that Jumia has extended its logistics network and has partnered with hundreds of local logistics service providers that will ensure easy delivery to all corners of Nigeria, including smaller towns and rural areas.

Listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2019, Jumia is the leading e-commerce company in Africa, operating in 11 countries. The Jumia platform consists of a marketplace, which connects sellers with consumers, a logistics service, which enables the shipment and delivery of packages from sellers to consumers, and a payment service, JumiaPay, which offers a safe and easy solution to facilitate online payment transactions.

The company offers goods across a broad range of categories, such as phones and electronics, home appliances, fast-moving consumer goods, fashion and beauty.

MTN Nigeria Communications Plc’s total subscribers decreased by 0.9% to 77 million in the nine months ended 30 September 2024.

In the company’s unaudited financial statements, active data users increased by 5.1% to 45.3 million while mobile money wallets decreased by 21.8% to 2.8 million.

Service revenue rose by 33.6% to N2.4 trillion. See other details below.

Key Financial Highlights points:

● Total subscribers decreased by 0.9% to 77.0 million, impacted by the NIN-SIM regulations
● Active data users increased by 5.1% to 45.3 million
● Active mobile money (MoMo PSB) wallets decreased by 21.8% to 2.8 million
● Service revenue increased by 33.6% to N2.4 trillion
● Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) decreased by 5.3% to N860.2 billion
● EBITDA margin decreased by 14.9 percentage points (pp) to 36.3%
● Loss after tax was N514.9 billion (Q3 2024 profit after tax of N4.1 billion)
● Profit after tax (PAT) adjusted for the net forex loss was N118.5 billion, down 59.2%
● Earnings per share (EPS) was negative N24.51 kobo (positive N5.65 kobo adjusted for the forex loss, down 59.2%)
● Closing retained earnings and shareholders’ funds of negative N723.0 billion and N573.6 billion, respectively
● Capital expenditure (capex) excluding leases was down 27.8% to N217.6 billion
● Positive free cash flow of N536.8 billion, an increase of 21.9%

Commenting on the company’s performance, MTN Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola “In the first nine months of 2024, we sustained the growth in our underlying operating performance – underpinned by our resilient business model and operational agility –despite challenging conditions.

The inflation rate remained elevated amidst rising energy prices and naira depreciation. Inflation averaged 32.8% in the nine months (Q3 2024: 32.8%) compared to an average of 24.5% in 2023 (Q3 2023: 25.5%). To curb inflation, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) increased the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 8.5pp to 27.25% during the period, resulting in higher funding costs, although this helped reduce volatility and improve liquidity in the forex market.

The higher inflation and interest rates weighed on consumers’ spending power and impacted business activity. However, we remain focused on enhancing operational efficiency and driving the growth of our commercial operations.

Additionally, the naira closed at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) in September 2024 at N1,542/US$ (December 2023: N907/US$), exerting pressure on business activity. The improvement in liquidity in the foreign exchange (forex) market has helped us reduce our exposure to foreign currency-denominated
obligations.

We continued to manage the effects of the Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) industry-wide NIN-SIM directive, which has impacted the evolution of our customer base. Having implemented the directive with all our subscribers fully compliant, we continue our drive towards reconnecting those affected to reduce churn
while extracting increased value from the market.

Sustained commercial momentum notwithstanding the macro headwinds

Our commercial momentum drove broad-based growth across all revenue segments, demonstrating the underlying strength and resilience of the business. We recorded an increase in service revenue of 33.6%, which was ahead of the average inflation rate in the period. This growth was led by data and supported by voice, fintech and digital
services.

We recorded a 9.8% increase in voice traffic and a 42.1% increase in data traffic. In addition, data usage per user grew by 31.2% to 11.3GB, supported by the rising demand for data and digital services, which has contributed to revenue growth.

In the fintech business, we focused on executing our growth strategy, prioritising increasing wallet quality, focusing on advanced services and the MoMo PSB app to enhance the user experience and engagement. We have introduced cross-border remittances with thirteen fellow African countries to boost adoption and monetisation.

Taking advantage of their interoperability, we are now leveraging the existing network of agent and merchant ecosystem in the industry to bring our services closer to our customers.