About Robert

Robert is 28 years old and grew up in Eastern Kenya. He moved to Nairobi in 2008 for work. He has two small shops in the Central Business District (CBD) of Nairobi where he sells mobile phone accessories and does mobile phone repairs. He also sells mobile phone accessories across a number of e-commerce platforms.

For his e-commerce business he uses Jumia, Skygarden, and OLX to market and sell his goods. He started selling on Jumia after he saw a pop-up advert on Facebook. Jumia has provided him with lots of training opportunities (both online and offline), giving him advice on how to grow and run a successful online business.

On Jumia he works hard to maintain a high seller score (rating) as the higher his rating, the higher his product sits on the Jumia landing page. On the day we spoke to Robert he had delivered about 35 packages to the Jumia hub where they send orders out to customers.

He is notified of new Jumia orders via email (see image). While Jumia manages delivery and payments for their merchants, on OLX Robert is responsible for delivering goods directly to customers and receiving cash on delivery payments.

Although he has a Facebook page to promote his mobile phone accessories, he primarily uses Facebook for his role as a Jumia affiliate. In this role he gets a commission for posting links for Jumia goods on social media platforms.

Like many Nairobians, Robert also has a small shamba (farm) outside Nairobi where he grows beans.