Jumia is looking to unlicensed vendors to grow its business in Egypt

Jumia looks to make Egypt its biggest African market through unlicensed vendors: Online shopping platform Jumia is looking to Egypt’s unlicensed vendors to achieve its goal of making Egypt its biggest market in Africa, Tamim Elyan writes for Bloomberg. Jumia is “urging the government to regulate informal retailers by offering them tax incentives and cheap loans that would allow them to market their goods online,” CEO Hesham Safwat tells Elyan. The informal economy accounts for around 37% of Egypt’s GDP, but remains “off-bounds” for Jumia until it is incorporated into the official economy. These small-scale vendors would also stand to benefit significantly from offering their products through Jumia, which would allow them to expand their presence in Egypt without the hassle of logistics, Safwat notes.