Former Jumia executives have joined forces to launch a new e-commerce company. Known as Kapu, the new platform is expected to be launched next week according to a press invite sent to us.
The ex-Jumia executives include Sam Chappatte who was Jumia’s CEO before leaving the e-commerce firm in November last year. Sam who had been with Jumia since 2016 is the Founder and CEO of Kapu. Cyrus Onyiego who served as Jumia Travel MD and Jumia Food COO will now serve as Kapu COO.
Others include Stanislas Barth Ex-Jumia Head of Offline Sales who will serve as Head of Supply as well as as ex- Jumia CMO who will lead Kapu’s Marketing.
Kapu e-commerce says its mission is to bring down the cost of living for consumers in Kenya.
The new platform is being launched at a time when the country continues to record steady growth in e-commerce. According to Statista, user penetration is above the regional average, with revenues expected to have a positive annual average growth of 16.4% by 2025. With revenue of US$1.1 billion and a share of 76.1%, eCommerce generated the highest digital revenues in 2020.
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Kenya has also been ranked among the top drivers of eCommerce volumes in Sub-Saharan Africa. A report by digital payments firm Visa released last year revealed that the country’s eCommerce transactions are mainly driven by cross-border merchants. This means two things, firstly there is potential for the local eCommerce market to develop, and a need to examine if sufficient acquiring infrastructure exists domestically to enable these players.
The growth, the report noted is driven by both digital payments and cash-on-delivery showing the potential to convert more customers to digital payments through CNP (such as card-on-file) and CP (SoftPOS or mPOS) activities.
Kenya also recently adopted a digital economy blueprint meant to further develop the ICT sector and e-commerce activity. Key players include Jumia, Masoko, Kilimall among others. Kapu e-commerce will be the latest entrant.
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