Obi Ozor and Ife Oyedele II, co-founders of Nigerian digital logistics company Kobo360, have been accepted into the global Endeavor network, gaining access to various support services to help the company scale.
The Endeavor initiative works to catalyse long-term economic growth by selecting, mentoring, and accelerating the best high-impact entrepreneurs worldwide, and has accepted a host of African entrepreneurs into its network in recent years, most recently at the start of April.
At its recent Third Virtual International Selection Panel (ISP), Endeavor selected 10 entrepreneurs from five markets to join its network, which now comprises 2,069 entrepreneurs leading 1,290 companies in 37 markets around the world.
Alongside founders of companies from Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States (US) were Obi Ozor and Ife Oyedele II, co-founders of Nigerian digital logistics company Kobo360. The company, which raised a US$30 million funding round last year and has also expanded into Kenya, uses big data and agile technology to reduce friction and improve efficiency in the African logistics ecosystem.
“It’s an honour to be joining this global network of high-impact entrepreneurs and to have Endeavor recognise our efforts to transform Africa’s logistics sector using technology. As entrepreneurs, we wanted to turn African problems into African opportunities,” said Ozor, who is the startup’s chief executive officer (CEO).
“Focusing on logistics, Ife and I started Kobo360 to not only fix the inefficiencies that exist, but to build opportunities for the businesses we serve and, most importantly, the hundreds of thousands of truck drivers across Africa. This is a fundamental milestone in Kobo360’s journey – our Global Logistics Operating System will revolutionise supply chain across emerging markets and with Endeavor’s support, we’re able to make invaluable global connections that could be leveraged for our expansion and growth.”
Eloho Gihan-Mbelu, managing director and CEO of Endeavor in Nigeria, said she was excited to welcome Kobo360 into Endeavor’s network, which includes some of the world’s most exciting scale-up entrepreneurs and most experienced mentors and investors.
“Fixing Africa’s supply chain is clearly important for commerce on the continent, and Kobo360’s rapid growth over the past three years is evidence that the company’s valuable services are in critical demand. Obi and Ife are inspiring founders and their relentless focus on scaling Kobo360 serves as an inspiration to high-impact entrepreneurs everywhere,” she said.
