Jumia Food to shut down Rwanda operations

Jumia Food plans to close down its Rwanda operation.

In a statement, the retailer argues that they had to consolidate their resources to areas and markets that are profitable for their business.

“We have made the difficult decision to suspend our on-demand services in Rwanda effective December 9, 2019,” Reuters quoted Jumia.

According to the New Times, Albert Munyabugingo, the company’s Managing Director for Rwanda, Jumia wants to refocus its business.

This is the same position announced during Jumia’s exit from Tanzania and Cameroon.

The company said they needed to reduce their running costs to be more effective as an organization.

Jumia has been selling their own stock and taking commissions off third party transactions done on their website.

This however does not seem to work as the company did not meet the revenue estimates it had set for three quarters in a row by December.

Uneven markets in the content are not making operations any easier for them as they are shutting down their operations in smaller markets.

Their shares as of Monday were trading at $5.76 (Ksh. 584) a 1.5% drop in the share price.