JUMIA Unveils New CEOs, Wins @ BJAN Awards

JUMIA, Nigeria’s number one online retailer has announced its new CEOs; Nicolas Martin and Jérémy Doutté.

Similarly, the online retailer has received the best Online Retail Brand of the year award at Brand Journalist Association of Nigeria. 

Meanwhile, the new CEOs will replace Tunde Kehinde and Raphael Afaedor, former managing directors, who decided to leave JUMIA Nigeria to start their own businesses.

Jeremy Hodara, co-ceo of Africa Internet Holding (AIH) – JUMIA’s holding company said: “We are glad our hard work and growth over the years has paid off following our World Retail award as Best New Retail and now we are also recognized locally by the Brands Journalist Association of Nigeria. We only launched Jumia in Nigeria one and a half years ago and we are eager to share our success story.”

Sacha Poignonnec, co-ceo, AIH added: “JUMIA had a very successful 2013, from launching the leading e-commerce app in Africa to building our e-commerce campus in West Africa. We have to say a big thank you to everyone who has contributed to this. Especially to Tunde Kehinde and Raphael Afaedor, for their achievements with JUMIA Nigeria. They’ve made a great impact on our development and we wish them all the best”.

However, Goddy Ofose, chairman of the BJAN, stated, “he has seen Jumia’s growth and how it has managed to keep a good perceived brand that customers, both offline and online, can recognize with. Even though Jumia still has a long way to go, this is just the beginning to building the brand we want in Nigeria.

Afaedor and Kehinde were also a part of the Co-Founders team, which set up JUMIA together with the AIH in 2012. Last year, JUMIA was the first African company to win a World Retail Award as “The Best New Retail Launch of the Year”. Further to this, MTN and Millicom announced its investments into AIH.

Raphael Afeador, former managing director of JUMIA: “JUMIA was an exciting one and a half year journey for us. We are extremely proud of JUMIA and wish all the best to the company and all the people here. E-commerce in Nigeria is growing very fast and is an exciting industry to be involved in.”

Bidding farewell to the JUMIA team, Kehinde, said: “As we move on to start our own businesses, we owe a lot to every member of the team, together we made history, together we have built Nigeria’s first and biggest online retailer; a fate we never would have achieved without you. Let us urge you to continue to hold the values of looking after and satisfying every customer, supplier, and the people around you. There is no doubt we are building a great team of entrepreneurs that will leave a huge mark on this nation’s history”.