There was a time when “AI will take jobs” sounded like a futuristic warning. For some employees at Jumia, that future has arrived. AI is becoming a benchmark reason why tech workers lose their jobs, and it’s not just in Africa.
Jumia, the e-commerce platform operating in nine countries across the continent, has announced its plans to cut 10% of its workforce as artificial intelligence takes over more tasks across the company. CEO Francis Dufay told Bloomberg that AI is now being deployed across logistics, operations, finance, marketing, and internal workflows to automate work that humans previously handled manually.
AI is coming for jobs: Across Africa’s tech and corporate sectors, companies are increasingly restructuring around automation and leaner operations. In 2024, Microsoft announced layoffs affecting about 9,000 employees globally as it increased its investment in AI. In 2026, Zap Africa, a Nigerian cryptocurrency startup, cut 44% of its workforce after introducing Martha AI, which handled first-line customer enquiries. Recent examples even include Coinbase, the US cryptocurrency firm, which cut 14% of its workforce in May, due to AI; it affected at least two African employees. And just yesterday, Dune, a data intelligence company, cut 25%—guess the culprit? AI.
The race to profitability is probably why: If you’re wondering why companies, especially Jumia, have become best friends with automation, the answer lies in profitability and efficiency drive. In its case, Jumia, since CEO Dufay took over in 2023, has been on a very public mission to hemorrhage losses.Â
The company exited multiple African markets, including South Africa and Tunisia, in 2024, shut down its food delivery business in Nigeria, Kenya, Morocco, the Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Uganda, and Algeria in 2023, reduced headcount by 7% in 2025 to automate parts of its customer support department, and cut costs across departments.
For companies, AI is becoming a cheaper, faster way to handle repetitive work and chase profitability.