A few days ago I was in New York City at the coceo of Jumia’s Techcrunch Africa event. There, I had a chance to interview three African entrepreneurs who are bringing their products to the international stage. These are Sacha Poignonnec, Jeremy Hodara, and Tage Kene-Okafor. They are all extremely interesting individuals and it was a pleasure to have the opportunity to speak to them.
Francis Dufay
Jumia has a huge reach on the African continent. It’s a leading e-commerce platform, with a presence in 11 countries. Founded in Nigeria in 2012, the company has since expanded to Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Morocco, Algeria, and Uganda.
Jumia’s latest financial report showed that the company has lost money on the NYSE bourse for five straight years. The company reported a loss of $284.7 million in the third quarter of 2022. Despite this loss, Jumia is preparing to make significant changes to its operations.
Jumia will be relocating employees to multiple offices on the African continent. In addition to this, the company plans to reduce staff size in several markets. For example, Jumia will cut down on its presence in Dubai.
While the Jumia platform is the crown jewel of the group, there are other key products and services that have helped the company achieve its success. For instance, Jumia has a robust logistics service. This includes more than 1,300 drop-off stations across the African continent. Also, Jumia has partnered with more than 100 local third-party logistics service providers.
Jeremy Hodara
Jumia is an African e-commerce and logistics platform. It’s a company founded in Nigeria and expanded across several other African countries. In 2016, it became Africa’s first unicorn, meaning it’s valued at over $1 billion. Now, the company is facing a major shakeup of its executive team.
The Jumia management board announced a major overhaul of its executive team last month. Jeremy Hodara, the co-CEO of the company, and Sacha Poignannec, its other co-CEO, resigned. Francis Dufay, who had previously held multiple senior leadership roles in the company, was appointed as acting CEO.
The new executive team will continue to pursue its mission of expanding the company’s presence in African markets. Jumia’s focus is on adding value to Africa’s untapped e-commerce. They want to build a stronger local supply of goods and add an attractive platform for third-party vendors.
The new leaders are expected to work to improve the financial performance of the company. This was seen in the company’s third quarter results, which saw a decrease in its operating losses. Compared with the same period in 2017, Jumia’s operating loss decreased by 33%.
Sacha Poignonnec
The Pan African e-commerce company Jumia has made a few changes to its top management in recent months. Co-founders Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec have stepped down as co-CEOs and Antoine Maillet-Mezeray has been promoted to executive vice president of finance and operations.
The new leadership team, led by Acting CEO Francis Dufay, is tasked with the task of making Jumia profitable. Previously, Dufay served as Jumia’s executive VP of Africa, responsible for the group’s e-commerce business in its various markets. In the past, he also served as CEO of Jumia’s largest market, the Ivory Coast.
Although Dufay is the acting chief, he has been part of the company for over six years. He has held several senior roles, including Group Chief Financial Officer and Executive VP of Africa.
One of the most important milestones for Jumia is its initial public offering (IPO). This listing helped Jumia become a major player in the technology industry. With a market cap of over $1 billion, Jumia became the first unicorn on the continent.
Tage Kene-Okafor
Jumia’s founders wanted to create something new. They envisioned a platform that would facilitate transactions between consumers and sellers. It is now Africa’s largest e-commerce company. The company operates in 14 African countries.
Jumia’s co-CEO Jeremy Hodara told wrinky TechCrunch that the company is currently seeing great growth. He also said that the company is still focusing on profitability. However, he did note that Jumia’s losses are a major concern for investors.
Jumia has had an ongoing loss problem networthexposed for years. In its last fiscal year, the company saw an adjusted EBITDA loss of $204.5 million. However, its first-quarter losses were cut in half. Now, the company plans to reach a loss of not more than $70 million in the future quarters.
Finally
According to its executive, Jumia is very well sdasrinagar positioned in China. The company sees great potential in a country that is highly advanced in technology. There is a lot of potential for Jumia to grow in this market.
