NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

By Annie Njanja

The shipping business in Africa has for years been inefficient and costly due to the traditional ways of managing operations — traditional in the sense that a shipper has to physically look for a transporter, sometimes through a middle-man, and often, once goods are delivered, the trucks almost always make the return trip empty.

For a continent like Africa, where roads are heavily used to ferry goods, any inefficiencies encountered translate into higher prices of goods for the end-customer. However, over the last decade, tech solutions are emerging to bring efficiency into the sector and make shipping cheaper, while increasing the availability of options for shippers.

Amitruck, a Kenyan tech-enabled logistics platform, is one such provider of solutions that streamline the shipping market. The startup, which has achieved a great take-off in Kenya, is set to strengthen its technical, operations and sales team to lay ground for its entry into Tanzania and Uganda, after raising $4 million in seed funding (bringing the total funds raised to date to $5 million). The expansion plans come as it looks to be the regional go-to platform for shippers and transporters doing in-country and cross-border business.

Photo courtesy of diema.