OLX businesses in Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda have been sold off to Jiji (Genesis) as Naspers exits sub-Saharan Africa.
This was after OLX had closed its African operations in 2014, on claims that they were making massive losses.
With the selloff of the branches in the four countries, OLX has centralized its operations in South Africa at the Naspers headquarters.
Consequently, Jiji is only noted to be acquiring OLX’s users and a very small operation in South Africa.
Speaking on the new ownership, Jiji’s CEO and co-founder Anton Volyansky stated: “Users will always come first for us. We warmly welcome OLX’s customers to the Jiji family and we look forward to our new customers joining Jiji on its journey to empower the lives of its customers by providing a safer, more secure and enjoyable online shopping experience.”
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He further asserted that the transaction is important for its business as it is a long-term investment in Africa.
Mr Volyansky also stated that he believes in Africa and that soon enough it shall be a global leader in business and technology.
Reiterating his co-founder’s sentiments, Vladimir Mnogoltniy, Jiji’s Board Director exclaimed: “With this transaction we plan to build the largest Africa-based classifieds business, creating a new experience for Africa’s fastest-developing countries and their combined population of 300 million. We firmly believe that in the next 2-3 years ours will be one of the top 10 classifieds businesses in the world by traffic.”
With the swift selloff, OLX is claimed to have saved itself from incurring other loses financially, as the deal allowed them to prevent themselves from experiencing any legal and financial loses.
Following the closing of the transaction (which is expected to occur once certain regulatory approvals have been obtained), 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.
The Jiji team will strive to make the transfer seamless and to provide a high-quality user experience across all geographies.
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