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In an e-commerce driven market, last mile delivery needs to be efficient, agile, and customer focused.

With growing demand from customers and the phenomenon of “same day” delivery, last-mile delivery can make or break a company’s reputation. The rule of the game is simple – fulfilling delivery promises.

Kwik is an Africa-focused international delivery company on a mission to foster trust and predictability between business stakeholders in large African cities and to empower all participants on their platforms through a convenient, fluid and innovative last-mile experience.

In this scintillating interview, Romain Poirot-Lellig, CEO of Kwik Delivery provided an astute yet inspiring perspective of the journey thus far, the regulatory frameworks and the big plans of empowering African businesses in the value chain.

Give a brief introduction of yourself, your background and an overview of Kwik. What motivated you to start the company in the first place and what inspired the name?

I’m the Founder & CEO of Kwik Delivery, alongside our CTO Olivier and our COO Yinka Olayanju. My background is resolutely composite, as I grew up in the tech sphere in France, worked as a tech journalist then as a fundraiser in Asia and Europe and a diplomat in developing countries.

Our main motivation is to use the power of technology to foster trust and predictability between business stakeholders in large African cities and to empower all participants on our platforms, whether they are riders or merchants.

The name Kwik was chosen in a Nigerian pidgin lexicon, of course, to emphasise our dedication to efficient and rapid service.

How long ago was Kwik founded? Where is its corporate headquarters located and how many employees does the company have?

We founded Kwik in July 2018 and we are headquartered in France with operation offices in Yaba. We have 65 staff, mostly in Nigeria.

What problem is Kwik trying to solve and why is it that important? In other words, what’s the mission and objectives for which the company was set up?

It’s a very important question and the answer is trust. Technology is wonderful in the way it provides certainty to the ones who use it while allowing you to operate from where you are.

If you want to deliver an item from Lekki to Surulere, you can hand over your parcel to a rider you never saw before in your life because you know that technology is providing you a framework you can rely on.

Likewise, the rider can go on about his business knowing that he will have delivery rides pushed his way day in and day out.

When people trust the system, they are able to take the long view and this is how societies grow and become more stable. Our mission is to provide tools that foster that.

What products/services/solutions do you provide to your customers and how do they get value out of it? What’s the target market and market size? And how has the traction been so far on the customer side?

At least 500,000 last mile deliveries take place in Lagos every day. Probably 2,000,000 in Nigeria globally, or even more.

So, we built a platform that can bring some predictability and reliability to that. We also provide financial and payment services to the users of this platform, because we believe that delivery, payment and financing go together, along with e-commerce and fulfilment services.

We have 100,000 B2B users so far and thousands of riders signed up.

Congrats on Kwik’s recent milestone achievement of 100,000 customers and over 400% YoY growth rate of GMV and revenue in 2021. What is the significance?

The significance is that supply chains in Africa are evolving at a very rapid pace and technology is at the heart of it.

We are very gratified to be recognized as the most innovative delivery company in Nigeria in 2021 by Business Day.

The pandemic has posed a challenge to many supply chain companies. Yet Kwik is continuing to grow at such a rapid clip. How did you respond to COVID, and what enabled you to succeed at a time when others have struggled?

We ensured that riders got protected and got the proper training. COVID is both a tragedy and a catalyst for last mile delivery and e-commerce in Africa, as in many other places.

How developed is the current regulatory framework for efficient delivery, and what are the primary challenges facing the industry? What kind of infrastructure is needed to ensure a reliable and safe delivery process?

NIPOST has been proactive in shaping the regulatory landscape. We have a NIPOST license since our launch. Stability is the most important feature of any regulatory landscape.

Returns management is providing new challenges and opportunities for delivery providers and retailers. In your opinion, what role will new technologies such as big data, IoT and AI play in the future of reverse logistics and returns management?

The more trust there is in the system, the less returns you are facing. In that sense we participate in lowering the return rate of our customers. Innovation without trust means very little.

What is that one thing that Kwik have mastered over the years? And what are the unique lessons learnt so far?

We have built a reliable ecosystem for the riders since our launch.

Fleet size is the growth-limiting factor, so it’s critical that everyone can thrive. To quote Frank Herbert, “mankind has only one science, it’s the science of discontent”. We need to conduct perpetual adjustments.

What plans do you have for the African Market? And what is your view on the role of technology in redefining Africa’s logistics sector in the near future. To what extent will drones impact and shape this future?