Jumia names Vinod Goel as its new Uganda boss, replacing Ron Kawamara

UGANDA – Ecommerce giant Jumia, has appointed Mr. Vinod Goel as the new Chief Executive Officer for its Ugandan operations, taking over from Mr. Ron Kawamara.

Vinod joined Jumia 18 months back as Head of Fulfillment, overseeing operations across all Jumia markets.

He 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 joining 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.

Taking over the helm of the company, Vinod will focus on making Jumia sharper and faster, working closely with partners and vendors to make the entity their most preferred sales channel.

Vinod earned a B.S. in Engineering and also holds a dual MBA degree from MDI Gurgaon in India and ESCP Europe in London respectively.

Kawamara who joined Jumia in 2014 as Country Manager for Jumia Food, has left to pursue a big impact opportunity that has presented itself.

He held more responsibilities in Jumia, including managing Jumia Food operations across East Africa until 2018 when he took on the role of CEO Jumia Uganda.

Prior to Jumia, Ron worked for People Connect, a startup in the San Francisco Bay Area (USA) as a Business Development Manager.

He holds a Master’s Degree in Development Studies from Oxford University (UK) and Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Relations from the University of California, Berkeley (USA).

Naming of the new country head follows the major leadership changes the ecommerce company recently undertook.

Earlier in the month, Jumia, appointed Francis Dufay as the Acting CEO following the resignation of its two Co-CEOs Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec.

Hodara and Poignonnec launched Jumia alongside Tunde Kehinde and Kofi Afaedor in 2012 and had been at the helm of Africa’s only publicly traded company on the NYSE since then.

They oversaw Jumia’s pan-African expansion across 11 countries as well as its product journey that now includes a marketplace, JumiaPay, its payment arm and a logistics platform.

Francis who will be heading the company on an acting capacity has been with Jumia since 2014 and has held multiple senior leadership roles, including CEO of Ivory Coast and recently Executive Vice President (EVP) Africa with responsibility for the group’s e-commerce business across Africa.

He has a track record of successfully scaling e-commerce operations in Africa with a strong focus on profitability, bringing a deep understanding of the business and the markets Jumia operate in.

The Supervisory Board has also named Antoine Maillet-Mezeray previously the Group Chief Financial Officer, as the new Executive Vice President, Finance & Operations.

For all the latest food industry news from Africa and the World, subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel.