Africa’s leading e-commerce platform, Jumia Technologies AG, has outlined an ambitious trajectory toward profitability, forecasting a break-even point by 2027 amid ongoing financial challenges and intensifying competition.
Under the leadership of CEO Francis Dufay, who took the helm in late 2022, Jumia has promised to implement a comprehensive strategy to restore investor confidence following years of losses and a significant decline in market capitalization. “My focus is very simple, we have to deliver the numbers. The target is break-even in 2027,” Dufay told Financial Times in an interview.
The company, which was formerly valued at $1bn, now has a market cap of about $400 due to a myriad of reasons; a major one being the recent stake sell-off by the company’s largest institutional investor, Baillie Gifford. As at the time of this sale, it was reported that Jumia’s stock fell from over $26 that it had managed to accrue since its 2019 IPO, to about $2.5 in May 2025, thereby incurring heavy losses.
Jumia’s recent financial performance reflects both the challenges it faces and the progress it has made so far. In the first quarter of 2025, revenue dropped by 2.6% year-on-year to $36.3 million, mainly due to lower corporate sales and currency devaluations in Egypt. However, the silver lining was that the number of orders grew by 21%, making it the fastest number of orders accrued over the space of two years, and this is thanks to new consumer-focused initiatives and expansion into rural areas.
Despite the exit of Gifford, Jumia managing to cut its pre-tax losses by more than half compared to the previous years still served as an encouraging act for the rest of the company’s investors.
Now, to achieve its profit goals, Jumia has made tough decisions to streamline its operations. Under Dufay’s leadership, the e-commerce company has cut its workforce by 20%. Advertising and sales expenses have also been slashed by 24%, with top management now required to work from African offices instead of the UAE, reducing costs and keeping leaders closer to the markets they serve.
Jumia has now narrowed its focus to the markets it believes has great potential. The company now operates in nine countries, down from 14, having exited less profitable markets like South Africa, Tunisia. As a result, Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, is now at the center of Jumia’s strategy, with the company heavily investing in expanding its reach to rural and semi-urban areas in the country.
The Nigerian market offered the “greatest potential in terms of growth and profitability,” Dufay told Financial Times. So, by making its e-commerce services available to more people in the country, Jumia hopes to drive order growth and more importantly, build a more loyal customer base. This is due to the recent rise of the influence of other e-commerce companies, such as Shein and Temu.
Jumia is currently working to strengthen its product offerings by partnering with international sellers, particularly from China. The company now has a 70-person team dedicated to onboard Chinese merchants in Shenzhen, one of China’s leading global technology hubs. Products from these international sellers now make up about one-third of Jumia’s total sales volume.
This strategy is crucial as Jumia is currently facing fierce competition from Chinese e-commerce giants Temu and Shein, with both of them making massive inroads into African markets with low prices and efficient logistics. Dufay believes Jumia can hold its own by offering a wider range of products by leveraging its already established deep understanding of local markets, and providing services tailored specifically to African consumers. For example, the payment-on-delivery option that neither Shein nor Temu offers.
“We believe we can fight them,” Dufay said. “We have… more diverse product offerings in categories they can’t offer, we’re more tailored to the market and we have competitive productive offerings in their categories from our international sellers.”
In addition to this, Dufay is also stepping up the company’s investor outreach, hoping to attract new investors after Bailie Gifford’s exit. In luck, African telecommunications group Axain announced earlier in the month that it was acquiring an 8% stake in Jumia. Financial Times reports that the telecom company has further increased its investment in Jumia to a 9.2% stake, with Dufay calling the company “a serious investor.” Only time will tell if this investment matures or even tries to be as effective and influential as Gifford’s investment before his sell-off.
The next two years will be critical in determining whether Africa’s e-commerce pioneer can finally fulfill its potential and win back investor trust for good.
