Charles Ballard takes charge as the new Kenya CEO at Jumia

Leading e-commerce platform in Africa, Jumia has recently announced Charles Ballard as the new CEO of Jumia Kenya, effective from March. Ballard reportedly takes over from predecessor Juan Seco who moved on after eight years with the company to join a pan-African player in the FinTech space.

According to Jumia Group's website, Ballard joined Jumia in 2019. Before being appointed CEO of Kenya, he served as Senior Vice President - Commercials, leading the development and transformation of GM categories across the group. He also worked in several leadership roles in Kenya including COO and Head of Performance & Planning.

“I am excited to continue driving the e-commerce narrative in rural Kenya where more than 70 percent of the population lives. Access to modern retail is a challenge in these areas, which is a great opportunity to grow our online marketplace. E-commerce can bring better prices, more choices, and convenience to the rural Kenyans," Ballard said.

As per Jumia's website, prior to joining Jumia, Ballard was a consultant at Sagaci Research, working on retail and e-commerce projects across more than 15 African countries. He was also the Deputy CFO at ACTED, a humanitarian NGO in 40 developing countries worldwide. He reportedly began his career in Mergers & Acquisitions in Paris and Hong Kong.

He holds a Master’s degree from the ESSEC Business School (France) and a Bsc in International Development from the London School of Economics - UoL/LSE (UK).