Through order optimisation and allocation, Nigerian startup ShapShap provides software to make last-mile delivery jobs more efficient, sustainable, and scalable.
Founder Khalil Halilu came up with the idea for ShapShap in 2018 after becoming a victim of poor mobility services and realizing that, unlike other parts of the world, the African logistics market was supply (or driver) driven.
Seeing that the majority of businesses in Nigeria are SMEs that rely on last-mile logistics for survival, he founded ShapShap with his family using his expertise in building technology solutions and logistics management.
Halilu began by conducting a physical survey of 19 people in the same circle, the majority of whom were family and friends who run small and medium-sized businesses that required last-mile deliveries. He then created a pitch deck in order to attract not only funding but also partners who shared his concerns, eventually raising US$850,000 to launch the project.
ShapShap is the only driver-focused multimodal platform that provides SaaS, dynamic pricing, and cross-pooling capabilities.
“ShapShap’s unique selling proposition is this cross-pooling – drivers earn from different sources through one app,” Halilu said.
The startup, which charges a commission on orders, has over 200,000 deliveries with over 4,000 customers, but Halilu believes the startup’s market opportunity extends beyond deliveries.
“It provides a digital hub. This digital hub is inclusive of parcel deliveries, cash withdrawals, store, mobility, home service errands, and verification,” he said.
“We have tailored our solutions to the local community, which is what really worked for us. We have constantly engaged with the community of restaurants, groceries, and other small business owners and made them part of the building process of the product.”
The bet ShapShap is making for the future is to sell the same technology it uses to other companies, and expand rapidly across the continent.
“We intend to expand to other African countries as the challenges across the continent are similar and are best addressed with local solutions.,” said Halilu. “We also intend to increase the number of drivers that carry out efficient deliveries to 1,500 and the number of optimised deliveries carried out with eco-friendly processes and modes by 2025.”
