Jand2gidi, a bourgeoning logistics firm co-founded by Kikelomo Fola-Ogunniya and Ujama Akpata is eyeing more investments in the delivery business that is fast taking roots in the local and global logistics industry.
The business which kicked off in 2013 on the side line of their corporate careers has steadily grown tentacles to meet logistics demands in different sectors, moving small to large scale deliveries across borders.
Its operations are dominated by imports from the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada into Nigeria and is supported by local operations including van services around Lagos and delivery of fast moving consumer goods on behalf of warehouses.
At the peak of COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, Jand2Gidi exported nose masks and sanitisers from Nigeria to the UK as some medical commodities became scarce.
Part of its growth drivers have been funding of N5 million from the pilot programme of the Lagos State Trust Fund in 2016 and a $2,500 grant won from the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), a private sector-led think-tank and policy advocacy group.
Fola-Ogunniya, a co-founder speaking at a media parley at its Oniru office, Lagos said the company is increasingly gaining traction with investment confidence growing to support its expansion goals.
She said the business raised a $100, 000 investment from an individual investor last year, pushing its growth further.
“There is literally no sector that cannot benefit from our service. In the healthcare sector, we are able to bring in non-perishable items such as medical equipment. As e-commerce continues to grow, the supporting structure which is logistics has to match. A lot more collaboration too is what we aim to get,” Fola-Ogunniya said.
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One of the ways that the platform hedges against mishaps is investment in insurance in all aspects, with a fixed rate to cover all customers’ goods.
Akpata said “we always encourage all our customers to take on insurance. It is something that we partner with insurance companies about – from shipping items from the UK, US, Canada – we have marine insurance. Even locally, all our goods that are in transit and for our staff who are working both in house and on the roads as well”.
Jand2gidi has also invested in technology over the years, moving its operations from a manual process that limited capacity for to a fully automated one, including its accounting. This has enabled the brand to scale to accommodate more businesses, corporates and individuals.
The brand is set to integrate into vendor’s websites through an Application Programming Interface that will help to effectively interpret and capture customer data.
Jand2Gidi is looking to expand to countries such as Ghana and Kenya as well as open more hubs in Lagos and Nigeria. The business is also looking to expand to Europe.
“We have gone from the booth of our cars to where we currently are and we are expanding. We are in a lot of countries in the world. We have a staff strength of 26 and we do have a wide network of staff across the world,” Akpata said.
