realme and Jumia to boost smartphone adoption in Africa

With a global user base of more than 85 million, the world’s fastest-growing smartphone brand, realme, could be set for rapid expansion across Africa after it signed an agreement with Jumia, the continent’s leading e-commerce platform.

The agreement allows for realme to have an official store on Jumia’s platform that would connect it with online consumers across 11 African countries, initially only Nigeria. Gradually, it will also expand to Kenya, Ghana, and Ivory Coast, and thereafter to the remaining African countries where Jumia operates.

Sandeep Narayanan, vice president for consumer electronics at Jumia, says the company is delighted to begin exploring how realme could grow and access the African market.

“Both of our companies share similar values, and we look forward to a collaboration that would provide Jumia’s consumers access to best-in-class, affordable smartphones via Jumia’s seamless shopping experience.”

Narayanan adds that Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the world’s fastest-growing mobile regions. He says, “Millions of African mobile users use a smartphone to access Jumia for their everyday needs. With this in mind, we look forward to further enhancing the penetration of e-commerce in the region.”

Meanwhile, Jack Zhang, general manager of realme in the Commonwealth of Independent States and Middle East and Africa, says, “We are thrilled to partner with Jumia, the leading e-commerce platform in Africa, to bring our smartphones to users across the continent.

“This partnership reflects our ongoing commitment to technology decentralization by making technology that used to be only in flagship models to be accessible to more consumers. We believe the young generation in Africa will find our products to have the best side of performance and of trendsetting design, as it is our mission to scale innovation with trend for consumers in the world.”

Jumia’s marketplace is supported by its proprietary logistics business, Jumia Logistics, and its digital payment and fintech platform, JumiaPay.

realme is a global emerging consumer technology company disrupting the smartphone and AIoT market by making cutting-edge technologies more accessible. It provides a range of smartphones and lifestyle technology devices with premium specs, quality, and trend-setting designs to young consumers at affordable prices.

Established by Sky Li in 2018, realme is the world’s seventh largest smartphone company and has become one of the top five smartphone players in 15 markets globally in just two years.

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