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Investing.com -- After years of bleeding cash and testing investor patience, Jumia Technologies AG (NYSE:JMIA), heralded as Africa’s Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), may have reached its "turning point." Following second-quarter earnings that beat expectations and sent shares soaring as much as 30%, the continent’s largest e-commerce company is now signaling something it hasn’t in years: stability.
Yet Jumia’s CEO, Francis Dufay, isn’t taking a victory lap. “We’re not profitable yet, so we still have a lot of work to do… we try to keep a cool head, even on a good day,” he said in an exclusive interview with Investing.com.
Dufay, who took over the reins in late 2022, has made profitability the core mission of his tenure, a sharp break from the company’s earlier years of aggressive expansion and operational sprawl. The transformation is already visible: leaner cost structures, fewer countries, and a more deliberate push into high-efficiency logistics.
“What you’re seeing this quarter is really the compounded effect of two years of hard work to turn around the company,” Dufay said. “Two clean quarters together, and it shows this company is completely different from what it used to be two years back. It’s actually growing again on much better economics.”
A Business Reshaped
Jumia’s Q2 2025 earnings delivered on multiple fronts. Revenues climbed 15% year over year to $49.6 million, while gross merchandise value (GMV) posted its second consecutive quarterly increase, a sign that demand, particularly in core markets like Nigeria and Kenya, is recovering. Contribution margin improved 157% YoY, and cost discipline was evident across sales, marketing, and fulfillment lines.
“We’re working to reduce tech and G&A in absolute terms; we have a lot of optimizations that are going to pay off in the second half,” Dufay noted.
That dual focus on growth with discipline is a clear departure from the company’s earlier playbook. Between 2015 and 2021, Jumia entered 14 countries and launched several businesses, from food delivery to payments to logistics. The company IPO’d in New York in 2019, only to see its valuation plunge as losses mounted.
By 2022, it was clear the model wasn’t working. “We don’t have infinite resources or infinite cash. Exits were part of a broader simplification and refocus strategy,” said Dufay.
Now operating in just nine markets, Jumia’s current version is far more stripped down and perhaps more durable.
When asked regarding potential plans for re-expansion, Dufay reaffirmed his goals of profitability, but suggested Jumia’s scalable business model would ease expansion pains, and indicated Tanzania "checks most of the boxes to be a relevant market."
The Macro (BCBA:BMAm) Balancing Act
Cost cutting alone does not protect a company from Africa’s economic volatility. The past few years have been punishing: Nigeria’s naira had lost up to 80% of its value, Ghana saw 50% inflation, and Egypt’s pound depreciated by more than 40%.
“The past three years have been more of a hurricane than headwinds,” Dufay reflected. “Currency stability will massively stabilize our supply and will not hurt our customers’ purchasing power for once.”
Still, Jumia has managed to find momentum even amid the chaos. “We’re growing in Nigeria 36% in GMV, which hasn’t happened in years, even with Temu in the market,” Dufay said. “We’re by far the market leader in Nigeria, and we’re consolidating that position on sound economics.”
Egypt, too, has shown signs of life after a rough start to the year. “We’ve massively improved our assortment. We’ve also introduced new payment methods to offer more flexibility, including buy now pay later with installments… we’re very confident that Egypt can very soon contribute positively to the growth of the company,” said Dufay.
Jumia has also taken a defensive stance on treasury management. “We keep most of our cash in U.S. dollars,” Dufay said. That approach has helped the company shield itself from severe FX losses. and even gain an advantage when suppliers and partners struggle with local currency volatility.
Staying Grounded Amid Axian Rumors
Jumia’s market outreach and financial woes have caught the attention of investors and potential buyers. Earlier in Q2, Axian Group, a pan-African telecom and infrastructure giant, disclosed an 8% stake in Jumia, upped it past 9%, and raised $600 million in a bond offering, fueling acquisition speculation.
While Dufay declined to address the M&A chatter directly, he made it clear that profitability remains the primary focus. "It’s understood on both sides, we’re not expecting a strategic U-turn. We’re on a mission to be profitable in ’27 and for all investors."
That does not mean talks are not happening. “Since they disclosed their position, we’ve been talking… looking at what we can achieve together, where we can create synergies,” he added, pointing to business in Senegal as a potential partnership opportunity.
Finding the Right Channels
One advantage Jumia has is its flexible approach to customer engagement. From in‑app orders to WhatsApp to call‑ins and third‑party agents, the company has adapted to how Africans actually shop, especially in rural, low-income areas.
“I think what we learned about our customers over the past many years is that almost a lot of them are channel agnostic... So we have also ourselves turned into a more channel agnostic company,” said Dufay. "It’s totally fine if you just want to call us and place an order. It’s totally fine if you want to order on WhatsApp, and it’s fine if you want to download the app and order on the app."
He points to JForce, Jumia’s network of independent sales agents, as a particularly powerful channel in hard‑to‑reach regions.
“JForce is a very relevant channel to enter up‑country markets that many thought would never work for e‑commerce,” he said. “It’s great because it also enables local entrepreneurs to grow their business. It clicked really well.”
When asked if Jumia and JForce’s marketing outreach, using traditional paper-and-pen methods, undermines goals to digitize e‑commerce, Dufay made the distinction very clear: “First of all, my mission is to make this company profitable. I don’t know if we’re going to digitize Africa; that’s not really the point.”
The Next (LON:NXT) Chapter: Cautious Optimism
Jumia may still be in the red, but it is closer than ever to achieving what once seemed impossible: a sustainable, profitable African e‑commerce platform.
“We need further acceleration in usage and further cost savings, and we need further cost savings to materialize,” Dufay said. “July is already looking pretty good, and that’s why we raised the guidance.”
The work, he knows, is not over.
“Nobody can pay for waste. We serve cost‑conscious customers, so we have to be extra lean,” he said. “The best way to be ready for shocks is to be very affordable on the assortment side and very lean on the cost side.”
For investors long wary of Jumia’s risk, this quarter may finally be proving something more valuable: resilience.