Kenyan e-commerce start-up Copia lays off 25% of its staff

Kenyan e-commerce start-up Copia has announced that it is laying off about 25 per cent of its workforce.

The business-to-consumer (B2C) company provides a platform for rural, middle to low-income consumers to order products that are delivered at their convenience. 

Copia told Citizen Digital that the layoffs will affect about 350 of its 1,800 workers. The venture said the economic downturn and the constrained capital markets had forced it to undergo a restructuring of its operations.

“This restructuring process will likely impact less than 25% of the permanent workforce and will be undertaken in full compliance with Kenyan labour law and with sensitivity to all employees affected by the process,” the company said.  

“This limited restructuring process is intended to ensure that during these economically challenging times, we will continue to focus our resources on the critical levers of business success and remain a lean and sustainable business for the long term. This decision is consistent with many of the best companies in Africa and across the world which are responding to the market environment and prioritizing profit.” 

Copia was founded in 2013 by former Silicon Valley maestros Tracey Turner and Jonathan Lewis. 

Its model comprises digitally-enabled, locally-based agents who operate as order and delivery points to meet consumers where they are, online or offline. 

The agents are existing trusted shopkeepers like a local grocer or butcher, where customers can select and pay for products chosen from a Copia catalogue.  

Once a customer places an order, Copia sends an SMS order confirmation to both the agent and the customer and in 2 days, Copia delivers the products to the agent for customer pick up.

The company says it has a distribution network of over 50,000 agents so far.

The layoffs in Kenya come just three months after the start-up announced it is closing its Uganda operations. 

Copia, which scaled operations to Kenya’s western neighbour in 2018, announced the suspension in late April, also citing the economic downturn and constrained capital markets.

The start-up’s CEO Tim Steel at the time said they were also pausing expansion across the continent double down on efforts to drive our founding Kenya business to sustainable, scaled profitability.

Steel said Copia still plans to relaunch in Uganda and across the continent once the situation is favourable.

Copia had last year raised over Ksh.5.6 billion ($50 million) from a Series C equity round to boost its efforts to expand across the continent.