Hassanein Hiridjee joins IFC in Jumia’s $50 million raise

Hassanein Hiridjee has put more money into Jumia Technologies, joining the World Bank’s private sector arm in a $50 million equity raise that gives Africa’s largest listed e-commerce company its strongest institutional backing since it went public.

Axian, the Mauritius-based group the Malagasy billionaire founded and leads, participated alongside selected new investors in the half of the round not taken by the International Finance Corporation, which committed $25 million. Investors bought roughly 9.1 million new American Depositary Shares at $5.52 each, according to regulatory filings. Neither Jumia nor Axian disclosed how much Hiridjee’s group contributed.

Jumia announced the raise on Wednesday alongside second-quarter results that showed the clearest evidence yet of a turnaround. Revenue rose 14 percent to $52 million from $45.6 million a year earlier, gross merchandise value climbed 20 percent to $216.3 million, and gross profit increased 28 percent to $30.7 million. The adjusted loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation narrowed 36 percent to $8.7 million from $13.6 million, while operating losses fell 25 percent to $12.4 million.

Investors responded. The shares rose 7.66 percent to $6.255 on Wednesday, after earnings per share of negative five cents beat analyst forecasts by five cents.

Chief executive Francis Dufay framed the IFC’s arrival as an external verdict on years of cost-cutting. “The support of the World Bank Group is a milestone for Jumia and for African e-commerce more broadly,” he said. “It validates both the discipline we have brought to our business in recent years and the tangible impact our platform has on small businesses, jobs, and consumers across our eight markets.”

Farid Fezoua, the IFC’s director for equity, funds and venture capital, said Jumia demonstrates how pan-African e-commerce platforms can expand economic opportunity at scale.

The cost discipline has been severe. Jumia’s workforce stood at just over 1,770 at the end of June, down 11 percent from March and far below the 4,318 employees the company carried at the end of 2022. Liquidity had fallen to $48.3 million by the end of the quarter, after declining $14.3 million over three months, which made the fresh capital more than a vote of confidence.

Hiridjee’s involvement predates this round by more than a year, and it has not been comfortable.

Axian Telecom acquired an 8 percent holding in Jumia in June 2025, taking 19.7 million ordinary shares through Axian Telecom Holding and Management Limited, with beneficial ownership attributed to Hiridjee as ultimate controlling shareholder. The purchase came weeks after Baillie Gifford, the Edinburgh firm that had been Jumia’s largest outside investor, sold out of the company entirely. Axian later lifted the stake to 9.97 percent, worth about $110 million at the time.

Securities filings lodged in March put his position at 12,213,838 American Depositary Shares, each representing two ordinary shares. At Wednesday’s close those holdings are worth roughly $76.4 million, a Billionaires.Africa calculation, leaving the stake down about a third from where it stood when he joined the board.

He took a seat on Jumia’s supervisory board in August 2025, following the departure of Angela Mwanza of Rockefeller Capital Management, and shareholders formally elected him at the annual general meeting on May 15, where he received about 98 percent of valid votes. The board does not classify him as independent. Shareholders at the same meeting elected Akinwumi Adesina, who expanded the African Development Bank’s capital base from $93 billion to $318 billion during his decade as president, and Benjamin T. Faw.

Whether Wednesday’s issuance changes Hiridjee’s percentage is unclear. Adding 9.1 million ADS to a base of roughly 123 million implies dilution to about 9.2 percent for a holder who bought none of the new stock, a Billionaires.Africa calculation based on the disclosed share count. Axian would need to have taken close to 900,000 of the new shares to hold its position.

Hiridjee took over his family’s Madagascar business after graduating from ESCP Europe in 1997 and founded the real estate company First Immo two years later, running it until 2005. He chaired Moov Madagascar from that year and joined the board of Telecom Malagasy in 2006, becoming its chairman in 2008. Axian now spans telecommunications, energy, financial services, real estate and fintech.

Axian Telecom ranks as the sixth-largest telecoms operator on the continent, with 42.9 million mobile subscribers and 15.2 million mobile money users across Madagascar, Tanzania, Senegal, Togo and the Comoros, and lifted revenue 29 percent to $1.4 billion from $1.08 billion. Hassan Jaber runs the telecoms business as chief executive while Hiridjee serves as chairman.

Development finance has funded much of the expansion. Hiridjee has drawn roughly $730 million from development lenders since 2025, including up to 170 million euros from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in June for mobile and fibre networks in Senegal and Kenya, a partnership worth up to 300 million euros with Proparco signed in May, and a $60 million facility for Axian Energy from Mauritius Commercial Bank. The group also raised $600 million through a bond issue.

Axian remains privately held and publishes no shareholder register, which leaves no public valuation of the family’s own assets.

Jumia has kept its guidance for adjusted EBITDA breakeven and positive cash flow in the fourth quarter of 2026, followed by full-year profitability in 2027. It lowered its full-year gross merchandise value outlook to growth of 20 to 30 percent, citing uncertainty in higher-value categories, after supply disruptions in electronics, fuel surcharges and weaker purchasing power in Ivory Coast weighed on the quarter.