After six years of operating in Rwanda, the Rwandan unit of Jumia Technologies has announced its decision to close down its operations in the country . In a message to its Rwandan customers,the New York-listed e-commerce platform that delivered food and drinks said that“We regret to inform you that Jumia will suspend our on-demand delivery operations in Rwanda on January 9th 2020’’. The notification says that, starting December 9, 2019, Jumia will no longer accept cash on delivery and will accept pre-paid orders only.
Jumia became a successful example and Africa’s first unicorn – a private company with a $1 billion-plus valuation – to be listed in New York in April. The operations were launched in 2012, focusing on the middle class which had internet access. It hoped to penetrate lower-income groups with growing smartphone use and plummeting data costs.
Rwanda becomes the third country in Africa where the Jumia Technologies, continent’s largest e-commerce platform is closing operation within a period of one month. The first country in Africa, where it closed business was Cameroon. This was followed by Tanzania after a fortnight, and now Rwanda. Albert Munyabugingo, Jumia’s Managing Director for the Rwandan operations stated that the company has been “struggling with profitability” and wanted to “refocus its business”, in different markets, which led to the decision to suspend some operations. The company added that it will continue to support buyers and vendors to do business online on its “classifieds portal, previously called Jumia Deals and which will now be the main portal jumia.rw.”
