Meet the "Unprofitables"?🚴🏼♂️🤷🏽♀️
Issue #139: Tech startups and scale-ups in the logistics sector might have figured out fast deliveries. But profit? Not so fast.
Hello Venturer,
How did your week go? If you’re reading from Nigeria, I already know it was eventful, to say the least. Queues at fuel stations are not getting any shorter, fuel is not getting cheaper, and in the last few weeks, we’ve all become experts in economics, thanks to the CBN.
Do you know who else is having a hard time? The logistics market. But no, it’s not simply because of fuel scarcity. It costs $4,000 to move a 40-foot container from Shanghai to Lagos, Nigeria. Yet, somehow, it costs the same $4000 to move the same container from the seaport in Apapa to Lagos mainland, a 20km trip.
Who makes a profit in that kind of market? Well, so far, not the tech bros in the game. This week, we explored how tech-enabled firms like Gokada and Sendy have been scrambling for elusive profits in the logistics market. These firms might have gotten a massive customer base by making quick deliveries to their doorsteps. But as Yvon Chouinard says, “Profit is what happens when you do everything else right.”
Oluwatosin Ogunjuyigbe
Staff Writer, Ventures Africa.
What’s new?
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Holiday Jollof
Read our special holiday issue on the events, businesses, people, and policies that impacted Africa in 2022. Click the image below to read.
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