Little eyes Kenya’s lucrative logistics market
Little Chief Executive Officer Kamal Budhabhatti.
Little, Africa’s super app platform, has ventured into the logistics business. The company will now offer services in an industry whose fortunes have significantly changed due to the adoption of e-commerce.
Inspired by the success of its mobility business, the firm has integrated technology to offer reliable and convenient logistics packages to different parts of the country.
To sustain the new venture, the company sees opportunity in consumer goods, hardware and construction materials, agricultural produce, vehicle spare parts and e-commerce among others.
It also plans to expand its services to Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania and Nigeria.
“We learned and mastered the art of corporate ride hailing and became a dominant player. Now it is time to learn again by launching Little logistics,” said Little Chief Executive Officer Kamal Budhabhatti on Monday.
The company’s Head of Logistics Business Jacob Ochieng said the new technology offers a 360 degrees solution in the delivery space. He said the new technology seeks to lower cost of operations through remote management of drivers and cargo monitoring.
He said the new system also allows partners to access deals which Little has with some of Kenya’s leading oil marketers.
Over the past few months, the price of fuel has increased thus driving up the cost of doing business. The system allows owners of delivery vehicles and motorbikes to monitor fuel usage from point of refill in case the vehicles are fuelled at partner stations like Ola and Delta among others.
“Our strategy also takes care of the environment. In our partnership with retail outlets such as Carrefour Supermarket, we have adopted electric bikes for deliveries which help us reduce our carbon footprints,” Mr Ochieng said.
“We have over 14 e-bikes for deliveries each covering 100 kilometres in a day, the bikes only need to be charged twice in a day,” he added.
Boosted by the growth in the e-commerce industry, Kenya’s logistics sector has witnessed continued growth ushering in new service providers competing for profit.
Latest Communications Authority of Kenya data indicates that the number of postal and courier operations in the country stood at 269 in 2021, a 26 per cent increase from 2019.
