Jumia also known as the “Amazon of Africa” has shut down, putting a stop to their operations in Cameroon resulting in the firing of its entire staff with no official announcements. The shutdown occurred today on November 18.
Jumia, a global e-commerce giant that has been operating in Cameroon for the past seven years has officially taken Cameroon off its website as well as other applications. There are no major reasons stated for the abrupt action by the leading African tech company.
Many are speculating that the shut down results from poor performance due to the economic and political climate that has occurred in Cameroon over the last couple of years due to the uprising of separatists in its Northwest and Southwest Anglophone regions.
This action by Jumia, means that Cameroon has become the third African country, joining the likes of Gabon and DR Congo to be taken off from Jumia’s official website. The information has left the media in a state of confusion, but we await an official statement from the CEO or management of the company.
The company has been facing a lot of challenges since 2018, despite being named in April 2019 on Wall Street as the best African tech company, according to several reports.
Tech guru Rebecca Enonchong, took to Twitter earlier today with tweets suggesting that the shutdown must have been as a result of mismanagement by the staff, which has in turn left a series of debates as to what really went wrong.
According to Reuters, in a statement made by Jumia,
We came to the conclusion that our transactional portal as it is run today is not suitable to the current context in Cameroon.”
