Jumia有望成为非洲版阿里巴巴

NAIROBI, Kenya—On safari for the rare African tech unicorn, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other big-name investors think they have spotted a winner in Jumia, the continent’s aspiring Alibaba.

肯尼亚内罗毕--- 高盛集团(Goldman Sachs Group Inc.)等知名投资机构在搜寻非洲科技独角兽的过程中发现，尽管目标稀缺，但Jumia可谓潜力巨大，有望成为非洲大陆的阿里巴巴(Alibaba Group)。

The online retailer, which launched in 2012 in Nigeria with the backing of German startup fund Rocket Internet SE, is Africa’s biggest e-commerce platform selling goods and services to millions of customers. It has raised more than $700 million from investors, including global telecom operators and was valued at $1.2 billion—qualifying as a so-called unicorn—during its last fundraising round in 2016.

这家获德国初创基金Rocket Internet SE支持的电商2012年创立于尼日利亚，目前是非洲最大电商平台，向数以百万计的非洲人销售商品和服务。Jumia已获包括国际电信运营商在内众多投资者逾7亿美元投资，在2016年的上一个融资轮中，公司估值达12亿美元。

Jumia has expanded from four to 14 countries. Gross sales last year reached 507 million euros ($597 million), up 42% from the year before. Its vendor network, from Cape Town, South Africa, to Casablanca, Morocco, includes up to 70,000 businesses offering their goods and services online.

Jumia的足迹已从四个国家拓展至14个国家。去年，公司总销售额达5.07亿欧元(合6.827亿美元)，同比增长42%。Jumia的供货商网络覆盖面广阔，从南非开普敦直到摩洛哥卡萨布兰卡，其在线平台上有多达七万个商家提供各种商品和服务。

Jumia’s growth story outlines the scale of the challenge for African online retail. Faced with poor internet connections and tight bank lending for vendors and consumers, the startup has had to build from scratch much of the economic infrastructure within which to operate.

从Jumia的成长历程也可略窥非洲电商市场挑战之巨。除了网络连接不畅，供货商和消费者也难以获得银行贷款，面对这些难题，Jumia几乎从零开始搭建了配套经济基础设施，以便开展运营。

“Nowhere else in the world is it more difficult to shop than in Africa,” said Sacha Poignonnec, Jumia’s co-founder and chief executive.

Jumia联席创始人兼首席执行长Sacha Poignonnec称：“说到买东西，全球再没什么地方比非洲更难了。”

Jumia executives have set up credit lines, offering loans to vetted vendors from the company’s balance sheet. They also hold training workshops on basic accounting and stock-keeping.

Jumia的管理层建立了信用额度制度，用公司资产负债表上的资金向通过审核的供货商提供贷款。公司管理层还举办有关基础会计知识和库存管理的培训。

Just 0.5% of all retail on the continent takes place online, according to Boston Consulting Group research, compared with about 15% in China—home to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. —and 5% in India. But companies like Jumia are changing the economic landscape for many African entrepreneurs.

根据波士顿咨询公司(Boston Consulting Group)的研究，在非洲，电商销售额仅占整体销售额的0.5%，在中国该比例约为15%，印度为5%，但尽管如此，Jumia等公司正在为众多非洲企业家重塑经济版图。