Jumia dismisses allegations of inappropriate disclosures, expresses optimism for growth

Success Damian:

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jumia Nigeria, Juliet Anammah, has dismissed allegations of inappropriate disclosures leveled against the online market place giant.

Anammah stated that there is nothing hidden in the activities of the organization which can easily be seen in the company’s prospectus, even as she stressed that the company is moving on the part of growth.

She described as ‘selected, biased or unverified facts’ the report by Citron saying it was aimed at damaging the rising image of the Jumia brand.

The CEO made the disclosure during a press conference at the company’s Head office in Lagos on Wednesday.

Anammah asserted that the company remains resolute in the disclosures made in the Company’s prospectus during the IPO, which correctly describe the business and the related risks in all material respects.

Recall that Citron Research recently alleged that in 18 years of publishing, it has never seen such an obvious fraud as Jumia.

The Citron report said media in the United States is naive for anointing Jumia the “Amazon of Africa”, after the e-commerce giant successfully launched its IPO in New York Exchange.

In disagreement with Citron’s report, Jumia says, “Some recent allegations were made about Jumia on the basis of selected, biased or unverified facts with a clear objective of damaging Jumia.

“We held our earnings call on Monday May 13th and we published our first quarter results, which we are very pleased with, and provided information to demonstrate that those recent allegations are wrong.

“We encourage you to download our results and access the transcript of the call, both of which are publicly available. We stand by the disclosures we made in our prospectus, which accurately describe our business and the related risks in all material respects.

“We are very excited about the future and our prospects. We will not be distracted from executing on our strategy and carrying out our mission by people who seek to create doubt to profit at our Company’s expense,” Anammah said.

On other related issues Anammah said “Citigroup Global Markets Inc., an investment bank for Jumia Technologies, has also responded to the citron allegations leveled against the online market place giant by Citron Research.

Citi Group in its analysis of the allegation said claims by Citron were manipulated.”

Anammah also stated that results of the first quarter 2019, indicated that Jumia has continued to deliver on its so many fronts, strong growth, monetization increase, cost efficiency, JumiaPay development.

She stated that in March, BCG published a report explaining that online marketplaces had the potential to create 3 million new jobs across the African continent by 2025.

“We very much believe in the positive impact of technology, and of Jumia, for the continent, and we look forward to continuing to create positive impact in the future”.

Jumia which currently operates in 14 countries has over 5,000 employees exclusively focused on making a platform tailored to the African consumers.

The influx of employment generators like Jumia is a necessity as population growth accelerates on the continent as well.

In Africa, the youth constitutes about 37% of the total labor force, but make up about 60 percent of total unemployment, a report from the African Development Bank stated.

As youth population increases, this could be a worsening crisis on the horizon, unless employment at growing enterprises like Jumia can stem the tide.