In October last year, Sendi, a Kenyan logistics upgrader, suspended its delivery service, which allowed retailers to buy FMCGs directly from manufacturers, saying it was shifting its focus to end-to-end supply.
Months later, the company is ceasing ground operations in Nigeria, one of its four markets in Africa. This means that it has become a “fully integrated technology solution” that matches online buyers with the right logistics providers and does not execute orders in the West African country. Complementary services remain unchanged in other markets.
The new changes mean that Sendy will abandon its asset-heavy model of last-mile order fulfillment in Nigeria. In the year The company, which started operations in Nigeria at the end of 2021, said the move was necessitated by the need to find the right product for the market.
Sendy has stopped ground operations in Nigeria
It wasn’t immediately clear how many workers would be affected by the closing of about 220 employees, but Sandy confirmed that some jobs will be lost during the final layoff period.
Sandy continues to excel in what she does. He is not harassing us. In Nigeria, we have decided to stop ground operations and focus on getting the right product. This means we will continue to connect sellers with logistics providers but not deliver their goods,” said Sendi Nigeria General Manager, Daniel Edimu.
“Sendy is a fully integrated technology solution that accepts orders through e-commerce plugins, ERPs or APIs and supports finding the best logistics partners and recommending vendors,” said Edimu, adding that the company plans to offer additional services such as financial services. Shop front.
In the year Founded in 2015 by Kenyans Evans Biwott and Don Okot and American Malaika Judd, Sendi has in recent months changed its approach in markets including Kenya, Uganda and Ivory Coast, adjusting to macroeconomic headwinds that have affected its performance. Hard to raise money.
Last year, it planned to raise $100 million and raised some undisclosed funding from Japanese transport company Mitsu OSK Line’s corporate venture capital MOL PLUS to expand its complementary offering, continuing its core services in various markets.
The investment was financial and operational…On the executive side, Sendy and MOL are working together to unlock infrastructure and other operational barriers to serve our customers. As noted earlier, in countries with favorable commodity markets, the CNY is experiencing impressive growth. Partners like MOL are increasing our capacity to meet our needs,” Idimu said.
Sendy has so far raised $26.5 million in disclosed funding from multiple investors, including Toyota Tsusho, Atlantic Ventures, Vestedworld, Keppel Capital, Enza Capital, AAICA Investments Pte Ltd, Sunu Capital and Goodwill Investments.
