The biggest online shop in Africa, Jumia has today announced that Ron Kawamara will take over as new CEO for Uganda.
Ron has previously served as the Regional Managing Director of Jumia Food, East Africa, and brings his wealth of experience in the African eCommerce industry.
Massimiliano Spalazzi, Jumia’s co-CEO stated at a press conference, “After a thorough and thoughtful search process, we are thrilled to have Ron take on the CEO role. Ron brings a stellar leadership reputation, a wealth of consumer experience, and a lifelong passion for eCommerce to Jumia – all of which are critical ingredients in the continued evolution of our company. We are absolutely confident that Ron is the right leader for Jumia who can create value for customers and vendors by marrying Jumia’s numerous assets with the opportunities ahead.”
Kawamara has extensive experience leading, innovating and scaling technology businesses globally, including having guided Jumia Food through critical transformation periods. Through his startup experience, Ron has frequently worked with SMEs to effect business models that embrace technological changes.
“I cannot imagine a more important and exciting time to join Jumia,” said Kawamara. “With a massive, diverse and highly engaged audience, a market-leading online business, a best-in-class product portfolio and an extremely passionate and talented group of people, Jumia is well-positioned to capture an even greater market opportunity. As a lifelong entrepreneur and exuberant technology enthusiast, this is the perfect opportunity to combine my industry experience with my love for business. I look forward to working with this great team, having a lot of fun, and leading Jumia through its next exciting phase.”
Upcoming plans
Jumia also announced the launch of the Black Friday campaign, a massive sales event that will run from November 16th to December 7th, 2018.
Visitors to the site www.jumia.ug and to the Jumia mobile app will have an opportunity to claim some of biggest discounts on thousands of items.
The month-long season is normally characterized by a buzz of activities at Jumia as online shoppers enjoy the best deals. “This year, for a whole month, every Friday is Black Friday.” said Jumia Chief Executive Officer Ron Kawamara.” We shall feature discounts of up to 70% on over 5000 products and shoppers are set to enjoy free delivery for purchases over 200,000 UGX.” he added.
This year’s Jumia Black Friday is expected to be the largest yet and to inject UGX 17.5B in Uganda’s economic activity.
