Over the decades, creek dwellers in the Niger Delta look forward to any day goods would arrive from the cities, especially from Port Harcourt. This was through barges and house boats that took weeks to do a return trip from the creeks to the cities and back. Now, e-commerce seems to break down the ice, making rural and riverine dwellers to shop on daily basis. A company partnering with one of the online shops has found a way to break the ice and make rural dwellers meet their daily purchase needs. The CEO of one of such delivery firms that broke the ice, Odubu Bekinbo, CEO of Ex-&Ex Logistics Limited, reveals to IGNATIUS CHUKWU how it works. Excerpts:
How long have you been partnering with Jumia in Rivers State?
We have been partners for over four years.
What does your partnership include?
Basically, we support Jumia in delivering packages to rural areas right here in Rivers state and we make sure that customers have access to e-commerce day-to-day in their daily lives. It doesn’t have to be a once in a while situation but an everyday thing.
What is typically the way of life of people living in this rural area?
Typically, the rural area does not have sufficient access to everyday goods all the time. Probably once in a week or two weeks, but with us right here in Rivers State, for the fact that we represent Jumia in this axis, we are able to deliver whatever they order for. They can get it day-to-day and on time.
Let me understand when you say Rivers rural area, your partnership with them does not include the cities or Port-Harcourt as a city?
Jumia as a whole practically covers both the city and the rural areas. The city here will be a first major but to be able to meet all and sundry, we go extra miles in going to those rural areas, those remote places that naturally people will not want to go to.
So, what do you say has been the experience so far in the last four years that you have been a partner with Jumia?
The experience is limitless but let me just basically pin-point one or two. It has been both high and low, it has been both challenging and at the same time we have had our laughter and our cries in the sense that when we first started, going to those rural areas was very difficult due to the difficulty getting to those routes in places but over time, as we kept on, the roads are being worked on and a little bit of access is being given and it is easy for us to move down there and deliver what we have to deliver. The inability of some customers to be able to use their phones or internet has prompted us to be able to educate them on how to shop on Jumia. We have been able to hold one or two seminars at different points in time. We have been able to get agents to partner with us and educate these people on how to make their orders every day.
What is the impact of your partnership with Jumia on your staff strength?
When I started, I actually started alone. I just had one person that was working side by side with me, but for over four years I am practically working with a staff of twelve. We have people that go to these places to make sure that packages that have been ordered by customers are given to them on a timely basis.
What would you consider to be the impact of this partnership on your personal life and personal finance?
We have been able to move from level to level, one to two, three to five, we have had an increase. Although, despite the fact that covid-19 period came up and all that, a little bit of decline because of the restrictions but even at that Covid-19 period, there was a boost because the education we had given them in the rural area earlier on was at its peak at this time because they can’t move away from the rural areas to come down to the city. Because of that, it is easy and since we were able to move with all protective gears. It was first of all easy for them to make their orders and then we as partners and Jumia were able to get the packages and get it down to them at their homes.
So, give us a little bit of background, what you have been doing, what empowered you to do this, was it what you dreamt of, what gave you the confidence to come into this area of enterprise? How would you compare vis-a-vis your first love (the first job you were doing) and now as an entrepreneur?
Me, as a partner, it is a story on its own. I have been into my personal business before. I was running a café with people but at one point, I saw an opportunity to come into Jumia as an independent marketer, I looked into it and I said “well, this might be something I was looking for that I needed” and I went for training. I started as an independent marketer like a Jforce and it taught me a lot on the field. One thing about Jumia is that you have personal experience day-to-day on the field. It makes you understand customers, it makes you know how to relate with customers, it makes you see a smile when you tell a customer that oh! I brought this for you. I started with that and then I grew into becoming a partner after being on the field for like two years, I now grew to become a partner. Financial wise, it has been the bomb, it has taken me on an upscale and it has given me a broader view of what being an entrepreneur is all about. It has enlightened me that if you put your mind to something and do what you really want to do, you will be good to go.
You have said that you saw a boom because we in the media also saw that. When others were not moving, delivery service came into view as a new area of business. In your course of expansion, was it your period of high expansion or your period of flat expansion if you are to think about it, did you grow well and fast that time? How much expansion did you experience during the covid-19 last year? Have you thought about it? Before covid-19, what size of business, after covid-19, what is the difference?
At the beginning of Covid-19, there was a slump because we needed to downsize staff, later on, there was a little peak, a gradual rise (not so high) which is not peculiar to just our business but to all other logistics business.
Traversing rural areas of Rivers state, are there security challenges, how are your people protected?
They are fierce when it comes to security because first of all, a delivery agent has a lot of packages at his disposal but as partners, the Delivery Agents (D.A) that go out, if you check their app, you will see where there is an SOS emergency which means that if the agent is on the field alone, and at a point of insecurity for him and the packages, he can go to his App and quickly click on something that sends a message out to us that he is in danger and then we also educate the DAs to make sure that they are always security conscious, they are always at alert at the point where you are delivering your package or when in transit, you must always be security conscious. There is a weekly and monthly training that they give to the DAs and then every DA with the app has a tracking system so we know where a DA is at every point in time. With the SOS on the app, if there is an emergency for the DA, if he is in a critical position, once he sees that he is in insecurity, he clicks on it and then a message comes out that gets to the office and then we try to intervene into it as fast as we can but usually, we always tell the DA he needs to calm down, he needs to find a way to see if he can resolve what he has but if it is something that he knows that it is beyond him, it is either he is looking for the safest way to move out.
When you say rural areas, do you mean riverine areas?
Yes, riverine areas are included Okrika, Bukuma, Ahoada, Etche is there. All those places are included. They get packages. Thanks to the internet and delivery agents because we are able to get orders from those locations and deliver to them
Moving to behaviours of DAs, what is your experience? They say young men of these days are usually having bad behaviors and wrong work ethics. Do you have any experience in that?
Our DAs are trained even before they start going out for deliveries and at intervals, weekly, monthly, quarterly, they have consistent training and we always remind them of the etiquette and how to behave. I will not doubt the fact that one or two might be a bad egg but generally speaking, our DAs maintain the etiquettes and their attitude required of them because of training and regular check on a daily basis with full reports to show the DAs who are faulty.
By your partnership, are you allowed to also partner with any other organization or you must work for Jumia? Is that the condition?
Jumia did not restrict us from partnering with any other partner but I as a person would not even want to, because what I am doing at the moment is fantastic in terms of volume of business, in terms of choice.
So, finally, what is your future for Ex&Ex?
If it is possible to go and deliver Jumia products in the moon, I wouldn’t mind (laughs)
