Madagascar billionaire Hassanein Hiridjee is formally elected to Jumia's board as the e-commerce group targets 2027 profitability

Jumia shareholders formally elected Hassanein Hiridjee, co-founder and CEO of Axian Group, to the company's supervisory board at the annual general meeting held on May 15, cementing the Madagascar-based billionaire's governance role at the NYSE-listed pan-African e-commerce platform he has been quietly building influence over since mid-2025.

The vote was decisive. Hiridjee received approximately 98 percent of valid votes cast, in line with the other elected and re-elected board candidates. Shareholders also elected Dr. Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina, the former President of the African Development Bank, and Benjamin T. Faw to the board for the first time, while re-electing Jonathan D. Klein and Anne Ooga Eriksson. The only candidate rejected outright was Blaise Judja-Sato, who received 62.71 percent no votes.

Hiridjee had been serving on the Jumia supervisory board since September 1, 2025, when he was appointed by a court in Charlottenburg, Berlin, following the resignation of Angela Mwanza. His formal election by shareholders at the AGM converts that court-ordered interim appointment into a shareholder-mandated permanent seat.

His presence on the board reflects the steady accumulation of Jumia equity by Axian Telecom over the past year. Axian first disclosed an 8 percent stake in Jumia in June 2025, which subsequently climbed to 9.97 percent, making it the largest single shareholder on the company's register. Bloomberg reported at the time that Axian was exploring a full acquisition of Jumia. No offer has materialised, but the combined shareholding and supervisory board seat give Axian significant influence over the company's strategic direction without a full takeover.

Jumia has been executing a sustained cost-cutting and restructuring programme since CEO Francis Dufay took the helm in late 2022. Annual losses have narrowed from approximately $206 million in 2022 to an expected $50 to $55 million in 2025, through workforce reductions, withdrawal from unprofitable markets and a sharper focus on core e-commerce and fintech operations. The company has publicly targeted profitability by 2027. Hiridjee's Axian background, which spans telecoms, fintech, energy and real estate across 21 African countries, gives the Jumia board operational depth in the very markets Jumia is trying to convert into profitable customers.

The new supervisory board's composition reflects a deliberate shift toward deeper African institutional knowledge. Adesina expanded the AfDB's capital base from $93 billion to $318 billion during his decade as president and brings sovereign and development finance relationships across the continent. Hiridjee brings commercial operating experience in markets from Madagascar to Togo. Together their presence signals that Jumia's governance is repositioning around the Africa expertise its early European and American investors could not provide.