Jumia Plans to Cut 10% of Staff as AI Takes Over More Internal Work

Africa’s eCommerce giant Jumia is planning to cut about 10% of its 2,000-person workforce as it expands its use of AI tools while working toward profitability before the end of the year, according to a Bloomberg report. 

The planned reduction, which could affect around 200 employees, is part of the company’s effort to automate more internal operations while lowering costs after years of heavy losses. Speaking to Bloomberg TV, Jumia CEO Francis Dufay said the company has already started adding AI-powered workflows across several parts of the business. 

“We are able to automate across our business and increase revenue, lower operational and fixed-cost base,” Dufay said. “The coming two quarters, we are going to save on about 10% of headcount, mainly driven by AI, and it’s definitely going to increase.” 

The move marks a major operational change for a company that historically relied on large teams to handle logistics, customer support, catalog management, and other manual processes across multiple African markets. According to Dufay, some of the work that previously required manual input is now being completed within weeks using AI-powered tools. 

“It works just as well and is actually more scalable,” he said, describing the company’s growing reliance on AI tools as both a way to reduce costs and improve how the business operates as competition in African eCommerce continues to grow.