Kaymu, a Rocket Internet-backed online marketplace, has been launched in Kenya with an aim to rival OLX and become the country’s largest community for buying and selling.
Africa Internet Holdings, Rocket-Internet’s local presence holding company, also owns Jumia, Hellofood, Lamudi, Carmudi, EasyTaxi and Jovago and is backed by Millicom, MTN and Rocket Internet.
So what is Kaymu? It is an online platform that connects buyers and sellers and allow them to take advantage of deals on a range of products including:
- fashion
- electronics
- household items
- and beauty products
Unlike Jumia which is Kaymu’s sister company, Kaymu does not restrict online sales to new products and therefore opens up opportunities for small businesses, independent sellers, and even consumers to sell both new or used products online.
Internet penetration and disposable income continue to grow in Kenya, new ventures such as Kaymu offer consumers access to greater variety of products. They do this while providing sellers with opportunities to reach a much larger consumer base.
“We are excited to be able to bring Kaymu to Kenya and confident that buyers and sellers will find value in our platform and services.” says Aleeda Fazal, MD for Kaymu.
Kaymu is said to have been online for about 2 weeks and claims to have in this time listed over 4,000 products and fulfilled close to 30 orders per day.
One seller on Kaymu, a Mr. Oscar Wamula of Wamula Designer, says he’s already seen business triple since his products were listed on Kaymu.
“Since I posted my shoes on Kaymu.co.ke, I have already received many orders. My business has seen tremendous growth thanks to Kaymu” Says Mr. Wamula.
The website seeks to rival the hugely successful local online marketplace, OLX and get a share of the growing online classified website.
OLX currently operates in about 106 countries with offices and local operations in Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Panama, Switzerland, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Thailand, Philippines, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and others. It was founded in March 2006 by Fabrice Grinda and Alec Oxenford, OLX is now owned by global media and digital company Naspers.
Kaymu already has other properties under the same name running on other markets for instance in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Ghana.
