Axian Telecom Eyes Full Ownership of Jumia in Ambitious Acquisition Bid

Talk about aiming high! Axian Telecom, the pan-African telco giant steered by Malagasy entrepreneur Hassanein Hiridjee, is upping its game and eyeing a full takeover of Jumia Technologies AG—the continent’s top dog in e-commerce.

Since June, Axian has quietly been building up its stake in Jumia to the tune of 9.18%, valued at around $52.5 million. To me, that's a clear signal they're serious about diving deeper into Africa’s fast-evolving digital economy. And to fund this bold move, Axian recently tapped into international bonds, raising no less than $600 million.

Now, before we get ahead of ourselves, there's no done deal just yet. But Axian clearly sees massive potential. On the flip side, Jumia hasn't exactly been a financial rockstar lately, struggling to turn a steady profit amid rising pressure from fierce rivals like Temu. However, Axian seems unfazed, betting heavily on Jumia's re-energised strategy, revamped logistics services, and—this is the clincher—I reckon the real goldmine lies in their fintech arm, JumiaPay. Clearly, Axian Telecom’s main play is leveraging that fintech capability to push financial inclusion across Africa. Considering the continent’s ongoing digital payments boom, that's spot on.

Axian’s CEO, Hassan Jaber, voiced the company's ambitions plainly, emphasising Jumia’s strength in digital infrastructure and fintech services through JumiaPay. “Jumia's digital retail infrastructure, fintech capabilities through JumiaPay, and logistics strengths uniquely position it to promote financial and economic inclusion for the communities it serves,” Jaber explained. “This makes Jumia a very attractive investment aligned with our core values.” Hard to argue with that logic, if you ask me.

Based out of Mauritius, Axian Telecom already has a pretty impressive operation going. They're established names in countries like Tanzania, Madagascar, Comoros, Senegal, and Togo, whereas Jumia dominates online retail in 11 countries—including Nigeria, Morocco, Kenya, Egypt, Tunisia, South Africa, Algeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Uganda. Merging these complementary footprints could definitely provide serious clout and market penetration across the continent.

Jumia, born in Nigeria in 2012, went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2019. If Axian goes all in and acquires it completely, we might just see Jumia delist from Wall Street altogether—a significant shake-up if that happens. Well… I mean, it's not every day a Mauritian telecom group takes an NYSE-listed tech giant off the public market.

At Arageek, we often speak about how creativity and risk-taking define the startup scene across the MENA region and beyond. Startups—including giants like Jumia—are always in the spotlight, sometimes thriving, sometimes fighting an uphill battel (yep, typo intended!). Still, moves like Axian’s planned acquisition have a way of injecting fresh optimism into Africa’s tech community.

Whether or not Axian pulls this off, it’s fascinating to see such ambition unfold. Africa’s digital economy continues to surprise—who knows where we'll be a couple of years down the line?

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