Overview:
The Africa-focused retailer, which earlier this week saw its co-founders, Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara quit, said Kawamara threw in the towel to pursue a “big impact opportunity that has presented itself.”
E-commerce platform, Jumia has appointed Mr. Vinod Goel as Uganda’s new Chief Executive Officer.
Vinod takes over Mr. Ron Kawamara who resigned the position recently to take in a bigger role at Google Africa, according to reports.
Kawamara has been at the helm of the financially troubled organisation since 2018.
“Vinod will focus on making Jumia sharper and faster to delight more and more customers with their needs,” said Jumia in a statement on Friday, adding, “Vinod will also work closely with partners and vendors to make Jumia their most preferred sales channel”.
The Africa-focused retailer, which earlier this week saw its co-founders, Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara quit, said Kawamara threw in the towel to pursue a “big impact opportunity that has presented itself.”
Kawamara owns The Patio and The Villa – posh hangouts along Bukoto -Ntinda road in Kampala.
He joined Jumia in 2014 as Country Manager for Jumia Food.
The new CEO, Vinod joined Jumia 18 months back as Head of Fulfillment overseeing operations across all Jumia markets where he is said to have played a pivotal role in making Jumia Express faster, cheaper and double the size in 1.5 years, and also steered set up of Dark Stores fulfillment operations.
Prior to Jumia, Vinod worked in Strategy, Finance and Supply Chain with Lafarge Group, a French conglomerate, and was based in Europe, Asia and Africa.
He has also worked as a software engineer in India earlier in his professional career. Vinod earned a B.S. in Engineering and also holds a dual MBA degree from MDI Gurgaon in India and ESCP Europe in London.