From near-bankruptcy to a path to profitability: Inside Jumia's brutal transformation
Jumia's Wartime CEO Francis Dufay on turning the company around via "shock therapy" & more.
On November 7th 2022, Jumia’s Board announced that co-founders and co-CEOs Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec were stepping down.
Francis Dufay, previously Africa EVP with responsibility for the group’s e-commerce business (and former CEO of Jumia Ivory Coast), was appointed Acting CEO.
Months later on February 16th 2023, the Board announced Dufay’s formal appointment as CEO.
Afridigest sat down with Dufay for an interview on January 31st 2025 — approximately two years into his tenure.
The recording had issues with corrupted sound files which delayed its release, but the conversation is worth the wait.
Watch the full recording here 👇🏽
💡 In this conversation, Dufay reveals:
Why Jumia killed business lines customers loved
The $2B mistake: Optimizing for Silicon Valley customers in Kaduna
60% staff cuts, multiple country exits: Inside Dufay’s ‘shock therapy’ approach
Why cash-on-delivery is still essential in 2025: “We can’t cut it, we embrace it”
How Jumia is competing with Temu, Amazon, and others: “It’s a fair fight”
How e-commerce companies in Africa build foundational infrastructure that Western counterparts take for granted
The “hybrid strategy” driving consumer adoption
The responsibility Jumia bears: “If we mess it up, it’s bad news for the whole ecosystem.”
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INSIDE JUMIA’S TURNAROUND — EXTENDED ANALYSIS
1. The Jumia Food autopsy: When good revenue is bad business
I brought up Afridigest’s analysis of Jumia Food’s economics and asked Dufay to walk me through the decision to kill Jumia Food.
He generally confirmed our figures:
Average order value: ~$10
Jumia’s revenue per order (after commission): ~$1.60
Loss per order after expenses: ~$2.00
What I didn’t know was that Dufay spent “more than half his time” on Jumia Food for years. More than that, everyone at the company was apparently emotionally invested in the business. Customers loved it. It felt like a winner.