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African e-commerce giant Jumia has made a leadership change, with co-founders Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poynonek stepping down as CEOs starting today, according to a statement seen by TechCrunch.
The two founders, who share the role of CEO to this day, have overseen Jumia’s pan-African product journey in 11 countries and led Africa’s only public trade on the NYSE for more than a decade. Marketplace, JumiaPay, its payments arm and logistics platform.
Francis Dufay, who previously served as CEO of one of Jumia’s emerging markets in Ivory Coast, will now replace both co-founders as interim CEO, the company’s supervisory board said in a statement. Dufay has been with Jumia since 2014, holding a number of senior leadership roles, most recently as Executive VP, Africa in charge of the group’s e-commerce business on the continent.
According to the supervisory board, Dufay and Antoine Mallet-Mezaray – previously the chief financial officer of the Jumia Group – have been appointed as members of the company’s management board. Maillet-Mezerai, who has been with Jumia for more than six years, driving the company’s finance function and “developing it further in a public market context,” has also been promoted to executive vice president, finance and operations.
“We thank Jeremy and Sacha for their leadership over the past decade in envisioning and building a company that is a leading pan-African e-commerce player.” Chairman of the Board of Control Jonathan Klein said about the announcement.
“As we look to the next phase of Jumia’s journey, we want to bring more focus and solid fundamentals to the core e-commerce business and a clear path to profitability as part of a simpler and more efficient organization. We look forward to working closely with Francis, Antoine and the management team.
Dufay and Maillet-Mezaray have their work cut out for them. Under the previous management, Jumia has not had a profitable quarter since going public in 2019, despite the previous CEOs repeatedly saying how the company was on a deliberate path to profitability during the quarterly call. For example, last quarter, Poiggnonnec told TechCrunch that Jumia—which predicted an adjusted EBITDA loss of up to $220 million this year—is moving toward profitability as more orders from more customers lead to broader revenue and tighter cost controls. “We’re going to double down on that to show some important steps that lead to profitability as a core objective of our strategy,” the CEO said in an August interview.
His and Hodara’s resignations mean that responsibility has now become a headache for the new leadership. According to a statement seen by TechCrunch, interim CEO Dufai and his leadership team will be expected to reduce Jumia’s operating losses and focus the company on a “strong cost discipline, targeted monetization initiatives, and a clear path to profitability. A successful organization.” And they are expected to build stronger fundamentals for the platform’s e-commerce businesses by focusing resources on activities and projects that deliver greater value to users, sellers and the wider Jumia ecosystem.
We should expect more top management shakeups as the search for a permanent CEO continues at the e-commerce platform. The regulatory board said the options should be “leaders and decision centers that are closer to consumers and sellers in Africa” and will provide more details on these activities during its Q3 earnings call.
Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poynonek said, “We are proud to build Jumia and work in e-commerce on the continent, and along the way create a unique culture and a great platform where millions of consumers and thousands of sellers can find great value.” Exit “It’s time to pass the baton to a new team. We are happy for all who come to the business and look forward to enjoying the company from a new place.
This is a developing story…
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