Online ads firm OLX to shut down physical office in Kenya, Nigeria

“We made a difficult but important decision in Kenya and Nigeria to consolidate our operations between some of our offices internationally,” OLX said in a statement Wednesday.

Operations in Nigeria are also going to be affected by the restructuring, it said.

“Our marketplace will continue to operate in Kenya and Nigeria - uninterrupted - as it has since 2010,” it added.

The firm did not provide specific reasons for the move, only citing need for consolidation.

The firm is owned by OLX BV, which is registered in the Netherlands and is operational in more than 40 countries.

South Africa’s Naspers Group owns OLX BV.

READ: OLX changes tack with Sh100,000 monthly adverts

Innovation

“We remain committed to the millions of Kenyans who use our platform to buy and sell every month.

"We continue to be focused on constantly innovating to make sure that OLX remains the top classifieds platform Kenya,” Mr Ndiang'ui said.

OLX said last year electronics were the most traded items on its platform with 330,000 goods listed for sale in 2016.

Kenya’s e-commerce sector is currently dominated by brands such as Jumia, Kilimall, OLX, Pigiame, among others.

READ: Adverts on OLX to expire in two months

Last year, telecommunications firm Safaricom #ticker:SCOM established an online sales platform in a move that was expected to roil Kenya’s fast-growing e-commerce market.

READ: Safaricom’s online portal set to sign up foreign vendors - VIDEO

The platform, known as Masoko, Kiswahili for markets, is modelled after retail e-commerce giants Alibaba (Chinese) and Amazon (US).