Jumia Kenya has laid off several staff in a bid to reduce operational costs.
The firm has been struggling to maintain high operational costs with slim margins. The past few years has seen Jumia report huge losses.
Jumia most recently exited Tanzania and Cameroon for similar reasons.
The 30 workers laid off account for 6% of the workforce at Jumia’s Kenyan operations.
Jumia has had a rough year despite having been the first African tech company to list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
The stock plunged from the US$ 44 it debuted at to US$ 6 as of yesterday (Dec 5th).
Jumia was also hit with accusations of fraud after failing to report crucial information to investors before its IPO.
This shattered investors’ trust in the company; the e-commerce company has not been able to restore its reputation since.
Jumia also had to do some self-reflection after a number of sales staff in its Nigeria-based operations were accused of fraudulent activity.
These questionable sales accounted for 4% of Jumia’s sales in the first quarter of 2019.
Jumia exited Tanzania this past week, just days after closing its operations in Cameroon. In both cases several staff lost their jobs.
Jumia is also rumored to close its Congo and Gabon operations in the near future.
