Afrigather Jumia, considered one of Africa’s most distinguished e-commerce platforms, laid off staff in Kenya and different African markets in January 2024, one month after it exited Jumia Meals, its meals supply enterprise. The variety of staff affected by the layoffs was not disclosed.
“Information about layoffs was shared final week however no communication was made about who was affected and also you’re nonetheless anticipated to work,” one Jumia worker wrote on Glassdoor on February 5, 2024.
This yr’s layoffs come one yr after Jumia fired 900 staff as a part of makes an attempt to chop prices and information the corporate towards profitability. Another staff have been moved to totally different roles inside the firm, the corporate advised TechCabal.
“As we proceed to assessment our funding and innovation in our operations, we’re refocusing groups and assets on actions and initiatives to help our path to profitability,” the e-commerce big advised TechCabal in an e mail on Thursday.
“Based mostly on this, we’re making some changes to our organisational setup in a number of nations together with Kenya to higher optimise our capital and proceed to hunt value efficiencies, similar to another firm. We stay assured about the way forward for e-commerce in Kenya and Africa and can proceed to supply our providers to shoppers and distributors via Jumia.”
Jumia eased into the discontinuation of its meals supply enterprise by ceasing operations in Ghana, Senegal, and Egypt in early 2023.
By the tip of 2023, it had absolutely exited the enterprise and eliminated the Jumia Meals app from app shops. The corporate said
meals supply was not sustainable, because it was compelled to compete with extra aggressive gamers.
Below the management of Francis Dufay, Jumia has emphasised value self-discipline and reducing operational prices. Its Q4 2023 report, launched at present, confirmed that the corporate is making progress, with operational losses all the way down to $4.5 million for the quarter and cuts in its promoting expense.
Inflation and forex devaluation in a few of its key markets proceed to pose a problem as income and gross merchandise worth, a metric that represents the worth of all items offered on the platform, lowered.
However, the corporate insists that value self-discipline and a few optimistic indicators in different markets can be essential in reaching profitability.
