Zumi, a lifestyle & fashion magazine which raised $370,000 calls it a day

Zumi, a lifestyle and fashion magazine focused on the millennial generation has called it a day, and the founders are moving on to eCommerce for the same demographics, according to sources that spoke to TechMoran on condition of anonymity.

Zumi, which raised over $250,000 to expand into Nigeria and Ghana was founded by Ex-Rocket Internet executives William McCarren and Sabrina Dorman, and covered entertainment, lifestyle and relationships, fashion, beauty and style news for African women ages 18-35.

Zumi follows OMG which closed in similar circumstances. Our sources claim Zumi, like OMG, grew on social media promotions and didn’t have an organic audience. The firm inflated its numbers and raked in high profile clients such as Safaricom among others but its run-rate was so high it couldn’t foot its operation minus raising more funding. Zumi executives were also paying themselves telco-level salaries and expanded to more markets in anticipation that ad revenues will sustain and grow the company.

In Kenya, the firm let go of the whole content team of about 10 people in its bid to move into eCommerce as advertising and content syndication wasn’t making enough money to sustain the mouths.

There are also rumors that the two founders mismanaged investor funds and grew too fast. Something they might have learned from Rocket Internet which is running in losses till today. If they launch an eCommerce site, chances are they will run into the same problems and close shop again because they might not have learned why Zumi failed.

“They were running too fast and actually doing nothing. They went too big too quickly and launched allover with offices and staff. They should probably not hire too many people and they should not pay themselves as if they are working for Goldman Sachs,” our source told us.

Zumi’s total equity funding was about $370k after it raised $120 in August 2016 followed by the $250,000 to help it expand to the two new markets. Zumi had the best category of content to cover in Africa but it was without competition in all these markets. Fashion, beauty, dating, work, health and self-improvement are key subjects to young women across the world and Africa is no exception, but the content business is a marathon and not a sprint.

The content business is also so dynamic and its dependency on ad revenues is a hindrance to growth as Africa’s ad spends are not that high.

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