Jumia Travel is an

online travel agency A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destinati ...

providing online hotel reservations across the African continent.

History

Jumia Travel was founded in 2013 by the E-commerce platform Africa Internet Group (now Jumia Group) and is backed by MTN, Rocket Internet, Millicom, Orange, Axa and other financial partners. Operations were started in 2013 in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

by company's co-founder Marek Zmysłowski and Estelle Verdier. It was then expanded to other African countries in 2014, starting with

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

and then

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. In 2015, Paul Midy joined Jumia Travel as Chief Executive Officer. In June 2016, the company was rebranded from Jovago.com to Jumia Travel, to join other companies under the parent company, Jumia Group. In 2016, Jumia Travel signed a global partnership with

AccorHotels Accor S.A. is a French multinational hospitality company that owns, manages and franchises hotels, resorts and vacation properties. It is the largest hospitality company in Europe, and the sixth largest hospitality company worldwide. Accor op ...

to widen the range of luxury hotels offered on the website, and to work with the French hotel chain to develop their business interests Africa. In 2016 Jumia Group became the continent's first

unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...

, being valued at over 1 billion USD. Starting as an online hotel booking portal, in February 2017 Jumia Travel unveiled its flight services in a bid to deepen its travel offerings to travelers in Africa and beyond and partnered with several local and international airlines on the continent including

Arik Air Arik Air is a Nigerian airline operating mainly from two hubs at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja. Arik Air's head office is the ''Arik Air Aviation Center'' on the grounds of Mu ...

RwandAir Express RwandAir Limited is the flag carrier airline of Rwanda. It operates domestic and international services to East Africa, Central Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, from its main base at Kigali International Ai ...

Qatar Airways Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C. ( ar, القطرية, ''al-Qaṭariya''), operating as Qatar Airways, is the state-owned flag carrier airline of Qatar. Headquartered in the Qatar Airways Tower in Doha, the airline operates a hub-and-spoke netwo ...

Emirates Emirates may refer to: * United Arab Emirates, a Middle Eastern country * Emirate, any territory ruled by an emir ** Gulf emirates, emirates located on the Persian Gulf ** Emirates of the United Arab Emirates, the individual emirates * The Emirat ...

Ethiopian Airlines Ethiopian Airlines (commonly referred to as Ethiopian; am, የኢትዮጵያ አየር መንገድ, translit=Ye-Ītyōṗṗyā āyer menged), formerly ''Ethiopian Air Lines'' (EAL), is the flag carrier of Ethiopia, and is wholly owned by ...

, among others. In September 2017, Jumia Travel appointed Joe Falter, founder of Jumia Food and EVP of On-Demand Services at Jumia Group as CEO in place of Paul Midy who exited the position for a different role at Jumia Group. In January 2018, there was a scandal where the Jumia Travel co founder Marek Zmysłowski was accused by Nigerian investors of defrauding them of about $300 000. The incident led to Marek being wanted by the Interpol and Nigerian police. Marek claimed that the Nigerian investors were trying to use the Interpol to extort him. Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, co-founder of Andela, told Ventureburn in a call that he had tried to mediate between angry investors and Marek, but that Marek "has a track record of telling lies." Maneesh Garg, CEO of Afriglobal Group also said that Marek was "a sweet-talker" and had sold him a lie Marek went on to write a book about it titled, Chasing Black Unicorns. He also did a TED talk about the incident. In December 2019, Jumia Travel was acquired by South African competitor Travelstart.

Operations

The Jumia Travel website operates out of 10 local offices across Africa and 3 regional headquarters in its main African markets (

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...

and

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from :wo:daqaar, daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar ...

). The website is available in English and French as well as in other African languages (Yoruba, Ibo, Hausa and Swahili), making Jumia Travel the first global travel agency to use local African languages on its website. The customer service provides support 24/7 out of its African offices. In East Africa Jumia Travel offers both resident and non-resident rates to encourage people living in the region to travel to neighboring countries. Customers can pay using local payment options including mobile payment applications such as M-Pesa or MTN's mobile money. Jumia Travel uses mobile apps, Extranet, Progressive Web App and can provide customer support on tools like Whatsapp, Viber for Mobile, following the growing internet and smartphone penetration in Africa.

Awards

In 2015, the company won "Best Hotel Booking Portal", "Leading Online Hotel Booking Company" and the "Best Use of Technology" in Nigeria (Lagos 2015). Jumia Travel organizes also Travel Awards in Nigeria and other countries, recognizing major players in the travel industry from Hotels to Travel Bloggers and Journalists.

TV interviews

* CNBC AFRICA's 2014-09-23
l Uwana Ekpat caught up with Marek Zmyslowski CEO Jovago to explore Nigeria's e-commerce industry
* CCTV AFRICA 2014-09-29
l Jovago wants to shed light on less-known destinations in Africa. » Interview Estelle Verdier, Managing Director Jovago East Africa
* RTS1

Radiodiffusion Télévision Sénégalaise Radiodiffusion Télévision Sénégalaise (RTS) is the Senegalese public broadcasting company. History The French military opened the first radio broadcasting station in Dakar in 1932. It began broadcasting civilian programming in 1939. The or ...

- 2015-03-15
Jovago wants to promote tourism in Senegal

References

{{reflist, 2 Nigerian travel websites Hospitality companies established in 2013 Internet properties established in 2013 Companies based in Lagos 2013 establishments in Nigeria 2019 mergers and acquisitions

History

Operations

Awards

TV interviews

See also

References