The 45-minute video interview by TechCrunch features African Kene Okafor, the co-CEO of Jumia, talking about how to pitch a startup, how the company plans to grow and its challenges. It also looks into the company’s efforts to create an attractive platform for third-party vendors.
Sacha Poignonnec resigns as co-CEO of Jumia
African e-commerce giant Jumia has made a major management change. The founders of Jumia, Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec, have stepped down as co-CEOs and will be replaced by a new board of directors.
In addition, Jumia has appointed Francis Dufay as acting CEO. He has been with the company since 2014 and most recently served as executive vice president of Africa 52av.
Jumia will also begin to make significant senior management changes over the next few months. This includes Francis Dufay as acting CEO, Antoine Maillet-Mezeray as executive vice president of finance and operations and Raphael Afhaedor as president of Jumia Logistics and Payments.
Jumia will continue to operate in 11 countries in Africa, including Nigeria and Morocco. It has also launched a logistics platform and a payments arm. However, the company reported that it was losing money.
The company reported $57.2 million in revenue for the second quarter of 2022, which was a 95% increase compared to the same period in 2018. However, the African e-commerce firm also reported that it was losing a projected $220 million this year.
Jumia is in the process of finding a permanent chief executive. But in the meantime, Dufay will serve as the acting CEO and will be responsible for a wide range of e-commerce activities across Africa.
Dufay wants to become an attractive platform for third-party vendors
The good folks at Jumia have announced that they will no longer be operating in Morocco and Nigeria and are instead on a sabbatical. The sabbatical has a stated agenda of refocusing the company on the aforementioned countries. Among the changes are a re-focus on value-added services involving localization, and a major reduction in the G&A budget. This has the effect of allowing the company to increase the quality of its products and services while at the same time reducing the overall cost of doing business. For example, the company will now be offering sellers of a variety of goods, such as groceries, home improvement items, and even clothes, a chance to earn a commission on each sale, without having to pay the cost of a warehouse. Aside from the aforementioned perks, the company will also be introducing an array of exciting new technologies ranging from smart contracts to augmented reality, among others. During the course of the sabbatical, the company will also unveil a new mobile payments platform that will make it easier for consumers to buy and sell products on their smartphones.
Challenges of pitching a tech startup
There are several challenges of pitching a tech startup. Luckily, there are several ways to navigate the waters.
First, it is important to keep in mind that investors have limited time and funds to throw around. The most effective way to ensure you get their attention is to create a pitch that is not only entertaining but also awe-inspiring. It’s also a good idea to have a professional help you put together the right presentation.
Next, you want to make sure you are hitting on all the major points. You’re not going to convince your investors if you’re droning on about a product that’s already in the market. Likewise, you’ll be wasting their precious time if you have a mediocre presentation.
A startup pitch event is a great opportunity to show off your skills as a presenter. Creating an enticing deck can be a tricky task, so you’ll want to employ the services of a graphic designer. In addition to making your pitch more eye-catching, you’ll want to be able to answer their questions.
Conclusion
For instance, you’ll want to find out how many brand name customers you’re likely to get. However, you don’t need to rely on a spreadsheet. If your app hasn’t had a million downloads yet, you can still show off your scaling abilities.