Facebook and Jumia Nigeria partnered to host the first ‘Boost Your Business’ event in Nigeria last Thursday (19 November) at the Landmark Event Centre. More than 500 Nigerian entrepreneurs gathered to network, hear about marketing best practices, and learn about how they can use Facebook and Jumia to grow their businesses.
The event served as a rallying call for Nigerian entrepreneurs, who have an invaluable role to play in growing the country’s economy. The one-day workshop provided entrepreneurs and business owners with best practices and advice from top business owners, illustrating how using Facebook and Jumia can help them maximise sales on Black Friday, this Friday 27th of November. The first 200 people that registered each received a N5,000 voucher for Facebook Ads.
The backbone of the economy
“We enjoyed sharing our ideas at last week’s workshop about how effective, easy to use, and mobile social media solutions can help Nigerian entrepreneurs accelerate the growth of their businesses,” said Nunu Ntshingila, Head of Facebook Africa. “SMEs are the backbone of Nigeria’s economy and encouraging entrepreneurial activity is critical to its growth and development. As of May this year, more than half the people on Facebook in Nigeria were connected to an SME.”
Added Jeremy Doutte, CEO of Jumia Africa: “Jumia is proud to partner with Facebook in Nigeria for the very first time. We are delighted to host an event for the booming Nigerian business community and our sellers in particular, providing them with a better understanding of how they can use Jumia and Facebook to grow their businesses exponentially. Black Friday is also around the corner and we have been witnessing already 100 times more traction on our website than the traction we had last year for this sale. This event was thus an opportunity for us to bring our sellers together, and coach them on how to make the most of Black Friday”
With more than 15 million monthly active mobile users, 16 million total monthly active users, and 7.1 million daily active users in Nigeria, Facebook is the mobile solution for Nigerian businesses of all sizes.
Facebook is where customers spend their time
“SMEs are the engines for job growth in the world economy, accounting for 80% of jobs worldwide.
As a platform that democratises marketing, Facebook can help small businesses to reach their full potential,” says Ebele Okobi, Facebook’s Head of Public Policy for Africa. “We give them a platform to advertise where customers already spend their time and make it easy for small businesses to communicate with people anytime, anywhere.”
Nigerian start-ups and small businesses are already benefitting from the way that Facebook helps them to talk to customers in an affordable, personalised manner. Jay Osbie Clothing, a seller on Jumia for example, is using Facebook to promote its brand for fashion-forward men and bring interested customers back to his shop on Jumia.
“Facebook is significantly cheaper than other channels. Actually, it’s not even comparable,” says Jay Osbie, the founder. His Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/jayosbie/?fref=ts) has 6,500 fans and his Instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/jayosbie) has 1,800 followers. Jay produces strong visual content and reached an Average Relevance score of 7 out of 10. He also recently ran link ads and paid $260 for 14k clicks ($0.02 per click).
Girly Essentials, a one-stop shop for affordable and unique women’s products, has 176,000 fans on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/GirlyEssentials/?fref=ts) and 3,200 followers on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/girlyessentialsshop). It’s all about building a community, says founder Chinma Nwaozuzu, adding, “People ask how I’ve grown my business – I say Facebook – ads on Facebook.”
Chinma does not have a team of people; “it is only Chinma!” she says and adds that she has grown her business by building trust through building a community first.