Africa's e-commerce players must overcome hurdles

Subject

African e-commerce.

Significance

Jumia, Africa’s largest e-commerce operator and first technology ‘unicorn’, raised 196 million dollars in its New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) IPO listing in April, with a current estimated sales growth of 67.6% for 2020. E-commerce in Africa is estimated to rise from an estimated 16.5 billion dollars in 2017 to 75 billion by 2025, according to McKinsey, propelled by a projected increase in consumer spending in Africa to over 2 trillion dollars by 2030.

Impacts

• There will be exponential growth in the development of complementary, facilitative and enabling services (such as payments and logistics).
• Industry growth will reaffirm the link between technical infrastructure indicators and economic growth, leading to higher public investment.
• There will be a greater demand from civil society groups for more robust legal and regulatory frameworks around consumer protection.
• Start-ups with a multinational footprint will facilitate more intra-African trade and greater economic integration over the long term.