NAIROBI, Kenya, May 9 – E-commerce platform Jumia has picked Vinod Goel to lead its East African operations.
Goel, who is the current CEO of the Ugandan unit, will oversee Kenya and Uganda.
The new regional CEO takes over from Charles Ballard, who recently took over Kenya’s Twiga Foods, an agritech company, as CEO.
Goel is credited for growing Jumia’s business in Uganda.
“We are witnessing huge interest from global brands such as Starlink, to be their sole partner and new brands to launch their products overnight in the whole country,” Goel said.
“We will also support brands to launch and expand in other Jumia markets to make them truly pan african brands starting with Kenya and Uganda.”
Goel began working at Jumia in 2020 as Head of Global Fulfillment Operations, overseeing operations across all Jumia markets.
In 2022, he led the expansion and deployment of Jumia Uganda, successfully turning the business around.
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 also worked as a software engineer in India earlier in his professional career.
Goel has a B.S. in engineering and also holds a dual MBA degree from MDI Gurgaon in India and ESCP Europe in London.
“Jumia Kenya is entering a growth phase and needs leadership which can accelerate growth while generating a sustainable profitable business,’ the e-commerce platform added.
“This is also in line with Jumia’s strategy of developing senior CEOs in key regional markets. The strategy has worked well in West Africa where Jumia is able to generate significant synergies among countries in the same region.”
