Nigerian startup ShapShap is providing software to make last-mile delivery jobs more efficient, sustainable, and scalable through order optimisation and allocation.
Founder Khalil Halilu came up with the idea for ShapShap in 2018 after he was himself a victim of poor mobility services, and realised the African logistics market was supply (or driver)-driven, unlike other parts of the world.
Seeing that most businesses in Nigeria are SMEs relying on last-mile logistics for survival, with his expertise in building technology solutions and logistics management with his family, he started ShapShap.
Halilu started out by taking a physical survey of 19 people within the same circle, of which most were family and friends that run small and medium enterprises that require last-mile deliveries. He then made a pitch deck to attract not only funding but partners that shared the same concerns, ultimately raising US$850,000 to launch the project.
ShapShap is the only driver-focused multimodal platform offering SaaS, dynamic pricing with cross-pooling features.
“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 recorded over 200,000 deliveries with over 4,000 customers, but Halilu said he believes the market opportunity for the startup is 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.”
