Comment by externalreality | Hacker News Reader

Comment by externalreality | Hacker News Reader

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externalreality

You shop on Jumia because it's convenient. It's also convenient for foreign interest to setup an Amazon like business to skim millions off the top of an economy that can scarcely afford it. The point is, Jumia is not good for Ghana, a domestic company would create more jobs and keep hundreds of millions of dollars of wealth from leaving the country. Its not about whether or not you get your 1st world products delivered on time, its about pulling yourself out of the 3rd world and Jumia is not helping you with that.

Many people forget that when Japan first started producing cars they were so bad at it some models didn't even operate in the rain. Or that American steel, originally, was supremely subpar to British steel. Its about doing whats best for the country - and having some foreign entity control a good portion of the commerce in the country (especially when it is so easy to build your own) is not a good idea for an emerging economy.

Remember, also, that Jumia will have the same control over market that Amazon does which is immense power and why the United States is considering limiting Amazon's power over the market. Basically, if Jumia begins to not only control the market but participate in the market as well it will be bad for these small nations.

I know this is not your intent, but your tone comes across as fairly patronizing in this comment. There may be a point to be made in what you wrote, but I suspect that as-is it will do more to put people on the defensive than to convince them of views they don't already have.

Sound advice but when you read a comment the tone is generally dictated by whether you agree with the comment or not, since voice inflection is absent. I do agree, you have to word thing more carefully in the absence of voice inflection.

Jumia does have competition from home grown African companies. A good example is [1]Hubtel. The difference between Jumia and its competition is funding. They managed to reach a billion dollar valuation thanks to funding rounds from AXA, a french insurance company and Goldman Sachs. There are very bright developers here who have awesome ideas but getting access to funding can be very difficult. That said, technology is helping Africa leapfrog. M-PESA is a service that allows people send money from their phones. It's widely used and developed in Kenya.

I believe in producing what i consume and consuming what i produce but it will be impossible to shut out foreign investment while we build our own.

[1] - https://hubtel.com

Forgive me if I sound as if I am against foreign investment. I am not. The degree of control that something like Jumia, a foreign entity, would have over these emerging economies is what is troublesome.

So, you want foreign investment, but local control? Then, why, as an investor, invest?

Is there some way to guarantee a return, or are you just expecting investors to toss their money in the wind and hope for the best?

Maybe there isn't a reasonable sum of money that is worth trading autonomy for. Certainly not for the sums on offer.

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