Cameroon shutdown: Techpreneur picks holes in Jumia’s operations

A Techpreneur and the owner of the building Jumia used in Cameroon, Rebecca Enonchong has picked holes in the operations of the e-commerce giant, which she alleged led to the shutdown of the firm in the Central African state.

The Chief Executive Officer, Appstech, who took to twitter some hours Jumia shut its operations in the country, alleged that the firm used to stock fake merchandise and treated its workers unfairly. She noted that these two things, among others, led to the company’s failure in Cameroon.

Enonchong is a technology entrepreneur in Cameroon where she founded AppsTech. She also chairs ActivSpaces (African Center for Technology Innovation and Ventures), supporting entrepreneurs from two tech hubs in Cameroon.

This was the reason she housed Jumia’s online marketplace when Rocket Internet, Jumia’s parent company made an inroad into Cameroon’s e-commerce space. Enonchong offered her conference room at AppsTech free of charge to help launch Jumia Cameroon in 2014.
Jumia’s dirty linen in public
Enonchong’s condemnation of Jumia had begun in 2016 in a mail she sent to the company. She had watched the company’s development in the last five years, but her anger was only made public after Jumia shut down operation in Cameroon on Monday.

Though the company said its operation is not suitable for the Cameroonian market, Enonchong thought otherwise. She said Jumia’s failure began with the way its employees were treated and the managerial skills of those who led the company in the country.

“Jumia shut down its Cameroon operations this morning, firing its entire staff, no public announcement, no special word from the group or its CEO. The brutality of the news to the staff echoes their management style and is, I believe, one of the reasons for its demise.”

Jumia is a badly run business
Enonchong further criticised Jumia’s operation, stating that the company didn’t understand the market. She disclosed how the managers at the helm of affairs were always foreigners. According to her, if a company wants to be successful, it must have good relationships with its community and all stakeholders, not just shareholders.

In one of her tweets, she stated that, “It became clearer to me that the now rebranded Jumia wasn’t at all interested in a long term business. They were interested in just a few KPIs that would look good to investors or possible acquirers. The pressure to make those numbers is same as what caused fraud in Nigeria.”