ROAM’s portfolio comprises both vertical classifieds in cars, jobs and real estate as well as general classifieds where a large variety of products can be sold and bought by professionals and individuals alike. It combines One Africa Media’s vertical classifieds businesses Jobberman, BrighterMonday, Cheki, BuyRentKenya and Private Property Nigeria with Ringier Africa’s general classifieds Expat-Dakar, ZoomTanzania, PigiaMe and Qefira and property portal MaMaison. In addition, new partners such as Mediatiz in Mauritius and Classifieds.co.zw and Property.co.zw are intended to join the group.
As of today, the launch between the two groups of companies becomes official and operational. The various platforms now benefit from synergies between the individual businesses, greater knowledge sharing and joint technology. They are managed from the teams on the ground in the nine countries where ROAM is present: Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Mauritius and Ethiopia. The technology and product development teams are based in Cape Town and Mauritius.
Robin Lingg, CEO Ringier Africa and Asia: «Together with our partners, and main shareholders of One Africa Media respectively, Tiger Global Management and SEEK, the leading global employment marketplace Group, we strive to make ROAM the most innovative, encompassing and successful classifieds company in Sub-Saharan Africa. With our strong local brands we enjoy the trust of our users and develop solutions, which are a perfect fit for African users. Clemens Weitz has been appointed as the CEO of the new ROAM Group and I am looking forward to continued cooperation. Clemens joined us in Africa in 2014 and has extensive experience in this field.»
Clemens Weitz, new ROAM CEO, explains: «We are privileged to contribute to the positive disruption that digital solutions bring to our African markets. Many markets are still highly non-transparent, informal and fragmented. Buyers are typically overcharged due to asymmetrical information, and jobseekers defrauded by fake companies. Our goal is to empower Africans through transparency, and transform markets through technology. Every month we already reach millions of users, and the growth potential is huge, with the number of smartphones expected to increase fivefold by 2025. We support our users throughout key events in their life, such as finding a first apartment, a new job or buying a car. And since many of their challenges are unique across the world, we do not copy and paste ‘developed market’ models but build truly local approaches. We are grateful for our strategic shareholders Ringier, Tiger Global and SEEK who combine and support our local perspective with their international scope and experience. We celebrate this merger as a major milestone, from which not only ROAM but also our users and Small-Medium-sized-entities (SMEs) will profit significantly, for example by extended reach or accessing a new range of products.»
Ringier AG, Corporate Communications
About Ringier Africa
Ringier Africa operates the continent’s leading online classifieds & integrated media groups. Ringier Africa forms part of Ringier AG, a leading international Swiss media group. The group owns and operates leading media, classifieds, marketing and eCommerce businesses across Switzerland, Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa.
About ROAM
ROAM (Ringier One Africa Media) results from the merger of Ringier Africa AG’s Classifieds and One Africa Media. Unified by the purpose to Connect Africans to Opportunities, the Group operates leading classifieds platforms in French-speaking West Africa (Expat-Dakar and MaMaison in Senegal), English-speaking West Africa (Jobberman and Cheki in Nigeria and Ghana, Private Property in Nigeria) and East Africa (Cheki and BrighterMonday in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, ZoomTanzania in Tanzania, Pigiame and BuyRentKenya in Kenya) and Southern Africa (Classifieds.co.zw and Property.co.zw in Zimbabwe, LexpressClassifieds, LexpressProperty and LexpressCars in Mauritius).
About SEEK
SEEK is a diverse group of companies that have a unified purpose to help people live more fulfilling and productive working lives and help organisations succeed. The Group encompasses a strong portfolio of employment, education and volunteer businesses which span across Australia, New Zealand, China, South East Asia, Brazil, Mexico, Africa and Bangladesh. SEEK makes a positive impact on a truly global scale, operating in a total of 18 countries globally with market leading positions in 14 countries.
About Tiger Global Management
Tiger Global Management is a New York-based investment company.