Jumia to Cease Operations in Rwanda, Shuts Down Jumia Travel in Nigeria

The suspension scythe at Jumia is not yet done doing its job at Jumia’s operations in Africa.

According to New Times Rwanda, Jumia is suspending its operations in the country after being in operation in the country for 6 years.

“We regret to inform you that Jumia will suspend our on-demand delivery operations in Rwanda on January 9th 2020,” Jumia said in a message to its Rwandan customers today.

In a notice, Jumia said that no orders will be processed after 9th January 2019 at which point all customer accounts will be closed. Also, Jumia prime subscribers will be contacted separately regarding their refund.

Jumia’s Managing Director for Rwandan operations, Albert Munyabugingo told the Times that the group has been struggling with profitability in different markets, which led them to suspend some operations.

The company has also decided to shut down Jumia Travel in Nigeria according to Techawk. In its place, Travelstart will now take over the operational businesses of Jumia Travel in Nigeria. The affected employees will be paid their severance packages and will be given job placements in Travelstart, Jumia Food and Jumia Mall.

This news comes hotly after Jumia said they were exiting the Tanzanian market roughly two weeks ago and a week before that, they exited the Cameroon market. Jumia Kenya wasn’t spared either, they said that a percentage of employees in Kenya will be laid off next year.

Jumia has had quite a tumultuous year. They enlisted to the New York Stock Exchange this year which did well initially only for the stock to crash later on due to a damning report. They also introduced Jumia Prime last month which was a service to cover the cost of local deliveries.