OLX has confirmed its exit from the Nigerian market after Business Insider Sub Saharan Africa broke news of the decision. According to Sjoerd Nikkelen, CEO of OLX AMEA, the decision was a difficult but necessary one. "We made a difficult but important decision in Nigeria to consolidate our operations between some of our offices internationally."
OLX moved into Kenya and Nigeria in 2012 and the decision to close its physical infrastructure in those two countries is bound to have a ripple effect on e-commerce in those markets. Mr.Nikkelen however revealed that the company would maintain its marketplace.
"Our marketplace will continue to operate here - uninterrupted - as it has since 2010, and we remain committed to the many people here 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 classified platform in the country."
As revealed in an earlier report, hundreds of jobs will be affected by the decision with a complete pull out of staff expected to be completed by April.
"Of course, we are committed to helping our affected colleagues during this transition and have already offered them meaningful financial and other support. As we’ve expressed to them directly, we are extremely grateful for their many significant contributions to OLX’s success."
