Nigerian e-commerce marketplace, Konga.com is laying off 10% of its 800-strong workforce in what it is calling a restructuring exercise.
According to sources familiar with the situation, the lay-offs will run across the whole organization. The company expects to reap operational efficiency and business effectiveness gains from the move.
In an e-mailed statement to
TechCabal, a Konga representative said:
“With this restructuring and by taking advantage of new innovations and upcoming retail opportunities in the market space, we are optimistic that we are on the path to grow an even healthier and more sustainable business, whilst delivering best in class service to our customers. The decision to restructure and realign our company’s focus to be more agile in the prevailing local economic conditions is not one that was taken lightly”.
The company says it is offering severance packages to the 80 workers affected by the restructure, and will assist with connecting them to other opportunities that match their competences.
Since 2014, Konga has been steadily reinventing itself as a marketplace rather than the e-tailer it began life as in 2012. Which means that it is taking in less inventory and making use of less warehousing infrastructure while turning its attention to working more with merchants. It stands to reason that the ecommerce startup might require less in-house capacity than it currently has to efficiently run its operations.