Jiji, Nigeria’s largest classifieds marketplace is preparing to dominate Africa’s classifieds business as it has acquired Naspers‘ OLX businesses in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, pending certain regulatory approvals.
Meanwhile, OLX users in Nigeria will be redirected to Jiji.
The transaction is backed by one of Jiji’s investors, Digital Spring Ventures, the two companies said in a statement.
Joining Jiji will allow OLX users in these countries to benefit from Jiji’s products and services. OLX’s reach, combined with Jiji’s own proprietary search and delivery algorithms, will create a beneficial combination, giving users a radically streamlined experience and making the buying and selling process more convenient, the companies said.
Following the closing of the transaction, all users of the sell-and-buy classifieds websites of OLX Nigeria, OLX Ghana, OLX Kenya, OLX Tanzania, and OLX Uganda will be redirected to Jiji.
It may interest you to know that OLX closed its offices in Nigeria and Kenya in February 2018.
At the time, the then managing director OLX, Lola Masha said “we made a difficult but important decision in Nigeria to consolidate our operations between some of our offices internationally. Our marketplace will continue to operate here – uninterrupted – as it has since 2010, and we remain committed to the many people here who use our platform to buy and sell every month.
“We continue to be focused on constantly innovating to make sure that OLX remains the top classifieds platform in the country. Of course, we are committed to helping our affected colleagues during this transition and have already offered them meaningful financial and other support. As we’ve expressed to them directly, we are extremely grateful for their many significant contributions to OLX’s success,” Masha said.
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