Jumia has appointed Sunil Natraj, as Nigeria’s new chief executive officer effective January 1, 2024.
Natraj will be taking over the leadership mantle from CEO Massimiliano Spalazzi who will be leaving the company on December 31, 2023. Natraj will continue focusing on making Jumia sharper and faster to delight more and more customers with their needs. He will also work closely with partners and vendors to make Jumia their most preferred sales channel.
Upon his appointment, Natraj said: “I am thrilled I will be leading Jumia in Nigeria, one of our largest markets, and to help transform Africa’s economy through e-commerce. It is an honour to contribute to Jumia’s success in the country, prioritising customer satisfaction, secure payments, and strong partnerships.
“Our dedicated team is key to our future success, and I am confident we will achieve even greater milestones, always earning our customers’ trust,” said Sunil upon his appointment.”
Jumia stated that “Natraj came to Jumia in 2022 with extensive experience in Sub-saharan Africa. In Jumia, he handled the Jumia Express logistics business as VP of Sales and Marketing based in Lagos, Nigeria before becoming the CEO of Jumia Ghana. He has worked towards cost definitions and reduction, price definition and standardisation, and business development and growth.
“Prior to Jumia, he has managed and built brands in the region and has handled large businesses in the FMCG sector. He has been based in Africa for over 11 years, where he worked for large multinationals such as GBFoods. Sunil holds a B.S in Engineering and an MBA from The Indian Institute of Management Calcutta.”
CEO of Jumia Group, Francis Dufay stated that “we extend our sincere thanks and wish the best to Massimiliano Spalazzi as he departs our teams following 11 years since the very start of Jumia. He has been part of the founding team since Jumia was launched in 2012 and has covered many leadership roles across all our countries and functions until his current one as CEO in Nigeria and EVP for the group.”
Listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2019, Jumia is the leading e-commerce company in Africa, operating in 11 countries. The Jumia platform consists of a marketplace, which connects sellers with consumers, a logistics service, which enables the shipment and delivery of packages from sellers to consumers, and a payment service, JumiaPay, which offers a safe and easy solution to facilitate online payment transactions. The company generated over $1 billion in Gross Merchandise Value in 2022 and has over eight million customers.