Jumia closes Dubai office, moves senior staff to Africa

Jumia Technologies has announced the closure of its Dubai office as the company remodels its business following years of loss-making and a constantly evolving eCommerce marketplace.

The company is moving its top managers from Dubai to the African countries they oversee, with most going to Morocco, Kenya and Ivory Coast. The 60-person Dubai office will henceforth be disbanded.

“As we are an Africa-focused company, we want our leaders to be based with customers, vendors and employees,” said Jumia’s acting head Francis Dufay.

In Kenya, former Jumia executives recently launched a grocery delivery company modelled in the likeness of Jumia. Former Jumia CEO Sam Chappatte and former chief operations officer Cyrus Onyiego have now taken similar up similar roles in their new entity dubbed Kapu.

For nearly a decade that Jumia has existed, it has constantly made losses and been forced to restructure its business at different times. The company remains one of Africa’s most popular eCommerce platforms with huge potential to make its business sustainable and long-term.

While announcing results in June, the company said that achieving profit would take a combination of measures including promotional discounts, ramping up marketing and cutting costs at warehouses by reducing consumption of packaging.