African delivery service, Jumia has terminated the employment of workers in Kenya and other African countries in January 2024, after the closure of Jumia Food, their meal delivery enterprise. It was not known how many employees were impacted by the layoffs.
“News about layoffs was shared last week but no communication was made about who was affected and you’re still expected to work,” one Jumia employee wrote on Glassdoor on February 5, 2024.
The layoffs this year follow Jumia’s 900 job cut last year in an effort to reduce expenses and steer the business toward profitability. The company told informed TechCabal that a few additional employees had been transferred to various departments inside the organization.
“As we continue to review our investment and innovation in our operations, we are refocusing teams and resources on activities and projects to support our path to profitability,” the e-commerce giant told TechCabal on Thursday.
“Based on this, we are making some adjustments to our organisational setup in several countries including Kenya to better optimise our capital and continue to seek cost efficiencies, just like any other company. We remain confident about the future of e-commerce in Kenya and Africa and will continue to offer our services to consumers and vendors through Jumia.”
Jumia ceased operations in Ghana, Senegal, and Egypt in early 2023, gradually withdrawing its meal delivery service.
It completely stopped operating the service by the end of 2023, and the Jumia Food app was taken off from app stores. The firm said that because it had to compete with more aggressive companies, food delivery was not viable.
Francis Dufay has led Jumia in emphasizing cost control and reducing operating expenses. The firm is improving, as seen by the Q4 2023 report that was just issued. Its operating losses for the quarter dropped to $4.5 million, and it also reduced its advertising spending.
