By Our Reporter
Transport Engineering PhD graduate Daniel Emaasit from the University of Nevada in the USA together with his brother Tobias Tukei who has been in the logistics industry for over 7 years teamed up to start on-demand warehousing and logistics firm Logistify AI and they believe this company will tilt the logistics and warehousing industry on its head.
The Covid 19 pandemic is causing a good amount of Panic across the industry and Emaasit believes their startup is the solution to rapid response support during this time through providing speedy warehousing services for essential commodities like masks, food, sanitizer and essential medicines that are highly needed now.
Their pay as you go model gives you the flexibility of using the facilities under their management starting from a few hours to days, months and much longer than traditional logistics firms don’t.
The old business model in the industry was built on locking down clients into inconvenient long-term contracts something Emaasit and his team want to change.
Breaking Out
Logistify AI started operations in July last year and the company has been growing steadily month on month. They have since onboarded a number of leading warehouse owners like Equator Catering Services, BAT Uganda warehouses in Jinja, Rafiki Property Services, East Africa Investment, Sarjan Property Agencies and Creston Business park to mention but a few.
Through his experience working for DSV Global, Tobias Tukei the company’s co-founder realised warehouse owners do have seasons of low or no business at all.
Combining their experience growing up in rural Eastern Uganda to parents who were farmers and owned a warehouse with the challenges Co-Founder Tobias Tukei saw in the logistics industry as he worked, he got a good understanding of the bad and good seasons in the industry and the company, as a result, is equipped to help clients navigate through them both.
During this lockdown due to Covid 19, the key products taking up large spaces in the warehouses include food, sanitizer and soap which are critical for survival in this period. Companies may even think about investing in something like these fiberglass doors here in order to keep these precious items stored safely and securely away from the main operations within the warehouse.
However, more products including all fast-moving consumer goods, and light and heavy commodities including timber among other things will be added on as the lockdown eases. And for the proper management of items in the warehouse, some equipment such as pallet trucks, portable stack racks, and similar others could be added. Honestly, these pieces of equipment are crucial to the proper functioning of a warehouse, primarily because they can expedite warehouse operations. Imagine if workers had to lift all the heavy pallets and put them one by one in the designated places– wouldn’t that have required a lot of time and energy? Of course! Instead, when the same tasks are done using forklifts (offered by Tovel Manufacturing), they can be accelerated. Hence, the need for different types of equipment!
Anyway, coming back to the topic, International clients like Aqua Fish and Son Fish both makers of fish feeds based in Egypt have already trusted them as a service provider of choice and the numbers are set to rise.
Growth
With close to 50 prospective clients already in talks with the firm, CEO Daniel Emaasit says the growth is promising.
Month on month growth figures shows a 33% increase in bookings, a 120% increase in users and a 167% growth in listings. Daniel Emaasit the company’s CEO believes they will break even within a year’s time thanks to this rapid growth.
Challenges
Limited knowledge among warehouse owners about their product, some warehouses being hard to reach, internet access for the rural ones remains an issue to yet a lot of the firm’s business’ is online leaving out some customers.
The Future
They are exploring how to roll out complete pick, pack and ship services with transport to the final destination from the warehouses as clients demand more of these.
Over 20000 usd about 75.7 million has been sunk into the business by the founding brothers with plans to expand across borders.
Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania are the next markets with the entire continent being the ultimate target going forward says the firm’s COO Tobias Tukei.
New forms of storage space will also become available going forward with plans to have on board every one with a deport, vacant store, residential house and even vacant shop as a client on the supply side.
What sets them apart?
While most sites and companies in this sector list real estate in general, Logistify AI has put it’s focus on the warehousing, storage and logistics sector.
They also ease the monetary transactions in the sector as an intermediary and single centre for payments something that makes the work of the warehouse owners and those hiring them easier.
Affordability is embedded in their service as there is no extra payment charged to customer besides a 10% shippers fee that is booked on the storage fee to ensure customers are not exploited.
Back and forth communication that goes into invoicing has also been reduced with customers being able to receive invoices through the Logistify app and make payments through mobile money, card payments and direct bank deposits.
Choosing to take on a digital approach to a largely brick and mortar logistics industry, the ease of scaling across borders is another advantage they intend to use and build Logistify AI into a real force in the industry COO Tukei concludes.
