Kobo360, the technology logistics platform was on Monday night named as “Disrupter of the Year” at the highly acclaimed Africa CEO Forum Awards in Kigali, Rwanda. It fought off stiff competition from leading African companies, including Jumia, Africa’s Talking, Baobab+ and Intouch, to secure the much sought after title.
Speaking on the accolade, Kobo360 co-founder and CTO Ife Oyedele says: “What an incredible honour to be named as “Disrupter of the Year” at the Africa CEO Forum Awards. We have spent the last two years fully focused on executing, at scale, on the enormous challenge of moving goods around Africa – starting with Nigeria, but quickly expanding to Togo, Ghana and Kenya.
“Kobo360 is building proprietary AI technology to disrupt the $150Bn logistics value chain on the continent, with the view to moving beyond borders in the coming years; we are positioning ourselves as a global logistics operating system [G-LOS] – starting with Africa first. If we can conquer cargo on the continent, we know we can move into other markets.
“We are less than two years in as a company. We have incredible backers in the form of the IFC, TLcom and YCombinator. We have incredible partners in the form of Honeywell, LaFarge, UPS, DHL, Dangote Group and more. This award is a moment for us to celebrate, but it also acts as a catalyst for us to double down and refocus our attention on the task at hand; creating value to thousands of customers across Africa.
“We are hugely appreciative of the recognition of the entire team’s hard work, by the Africa CEO Forum. Thank you also to our fellow nominees, who excel in their sectors and are building businesses that Africa can be fiercely proud of”.
On Monday, Kobo360 announced that it will expand operations into Accra, Ghana and Nairobi, Kenya. The announcement follows the recent launch in Lome, Togo and sees a period of rapid expansion for the African start-up.
Backed by international and African investors, including International Finance Corporation (IFC), Y Combinator and TLcom, the move comes as Kobo360 seeks to build a global logistic operating system [G-LOS] that will power trade and commerce across Africa and Emerging Markets. Positioned as key trading and transport hubs on the African continent, the new territories have seen almost exclusively double-digit growth Togo [12%], Kenya [10%] and Ghana [7.9%], and Kobo is now strategically positioned to grow with them.
Speaking from the Africa CEO Forum, Oyedele said: “We estimate that Africa needs 10X the number of trucks to meet short-term commercial transport needs, since rail continue to underperform. Time, cost and quality are key drivers of success in logistics which is why we, at Kobo360, are building a global logistics operating system [G-LOS] that will ensure fast movement of goods at a lower cost for businesses across Africa.
“Kenya is the hub of East Africa, it is the most innovative market in Technology and if we win here, we have won across the region. From here we will expand to Uganda and Tanzania. By adding Ghana to our West African territories of Togo and Nigeria, we will link all the market to a Global Logistics System and this will help us to serve our customers across a seamlessly lined Pan-African market. By this we create value to our customers as we are in all the key countries in the continent”.
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“Location is a critical factor in global logistics, and each African country we’ve chosen to expand into has its own value proposition. These markets are among the fastest growing economies and we want to grow with them by supporting the thousands of freight companies who require a safe, reliable and cost effective delivery of their goods to cargo recipients across the continent.”
Kobo360 officially launched in Togo this month and will officially launch in Ghana on April 4, and in Kenya by May 2019.
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