Jumia and Konga.com – Africa’s equivalent of Amazon.com

At some point, cash-on­delivery – especially for big-ticket items like fridges, may not be needed. The number of payments in the country made by mobile phone more than doubled to 2.4 million in the first half of 2012 from the same period a year earlier, while Internet payments rose 9.3 percent, according to the central bank of Nigeria.

For now, it’s just another quirk of doing business in an emerging market. “Here you are collecting cash and reconciling payments almost like a bank desk, here you are building a logistics company,” said Afaedor. His co-founder Kehinde is quick to ask, “How many times can you say in your life you get to build an Amazon?”

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