This archive report was first published on 11 May 2020.
On May 11, 2020, Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) and Jumia launched a Digital Commerce Program to support Kenyan businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The program aims to help businesses grow their digital sales and save jobs by registering and training thousands of businesses to sell online with access to over 4 million Kenyans who visit Jumia's platform monthly.
"Now more than ever, we need to be all-hands-on-deck to help cushion businesses from the impact of COVID-19," said Jumia Kenya CEO, Sam Chappatte. "We will commit resources to support KEPSA's Digital Commerce initiative, to train vendors & give them the tools to sell online effectively. We hope this will save jobs in the short term and help digitize the economy over the longer term."
Businesses will be able to register and open their shops on Jumia at zero startup costs and no hidden costs. Jumia will also cut its commissions on vendors by 50% for locally manufactured goods and to 1% for all businesses enrolling via the Digital Commerce Program for their first month on the platform.
KEPSA CEO, Ms. Carole Karuga, added, "We are pleased to partner with Jumia through the Digital Commerce Program to support Kenyan businesses by giving them the tools & training on how to sell online. We believe, Jumia is the best positioned e-commerce company to do this – with its current scale & countrywide operations – and is prepared to invest upfront in this initiative."
As part of the program, Jumia will provide free online training, ranging from the basics of e-commerce to operations, marketing, finance, and sales. The initial phase of the program will be limited to Nairobi, with a view to scale it out to other counties.
