Disruptions from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has taken a huge toll on the Nigerian economy, threatening the very existence of businesses small and large across multiple sectors in the country. But there are few companies bucking the trend and one in that category is Dellyman, Nigeria’s pioneer asset-free logistics marketplace, which is posting double-digit growth and has seen an uptick in all major indices. 

Dellyman was launched March 2019 to solve same-day delivery problems in Nigeria and has since grown revenue 20 times between January and April this year, with monthly growth within the same period averaging 145 percent, it said. The platform has also seen 20 average daily customer acquisition, with about 38 percent of the total active customers placing at least one order since coming onboard.

Between March and April, the company said it recorded a 45 percent increase in the number of active customers to 1,586 – 91 percent growth from January – and a surge in the number of logistics companies to 450, with over 100 verified and active on the platform. More so, the company in March signed its first major partnership with fintech firm Opay to boost its delivery assets by deploying some of the idle motorcycle assets from ORide. This led to an increase in the number of riders on the platform and over 3,000 orders completed by the first week of May 2020 – a 93 percent increase from February this year.

The growth seen so far, in spite of the pandemic, is proof that aggregating logistics assets are the right solution to the challenge of same-day delivery in Nigeria, according to Founder and CEO Dare Ojo-Bello. “The numbers we have seen within the past two months is a concrete validation of our business model. We had initially assumed that it is because of the lockdown alone, but we continue to see even a more increased adoption after the phased easing of the lockdown started,” Ojo-Bello said.

Dellyman now targets over 5,000 orders in May alone, while looking to even expand its capacity to be able to “keep up with the growing demand,” the chief executive said. Most of the company’s orders have come from online retailers, restaurants, and home kitchens offering custom meals such as soups; pharmacies delivering drugs and other medical supplies, computer and electronics retailers, cake, and confectionery makers, foodstuffs sellers, marketers dispatching multi-level marketing products and documents.

Facilitating e-commerce in Nigeria

Logistics is one of the major pain points of electronic commerce in Africa’s largest economy. It constitutes the highest overheads for most online retailers making the e-commerce sector unprofitable and accounting for the number one reason many e-commerce firms have shut down in Nigeria.

Some existing e-commerce firms have had to build independent logistics infrastructure, but that comes at an incredible expense threatening the industry’s growth, which is projected to reach $75 billion in value by 2025.

Dellyman has set out to solve these problems specifically by tackling the shortage of logistics assets and providers, especially for long-range last-mile deliveries. It also seeks to provide solutions to the issues of idle capacity due to the inability of logistics companies to connect with available delivery requests, while providing critical robust technology for the efficiency of delivery services.

“Overall, these problems are complex and difficult but Dellyman’s business model provides the right solution and the numbers prove it,” said Ojo-Bello. “The model leverages cutting edge technology that guarantees quick pick up and same-day delivery; provides increased access to logistics assets through aggregation; delivers an on-demand delivery service while offering a delivery infrastructure to retailers and e-commerce platforms so they don’t have to own logistics assets or technologies.”

In addition, Dellyman “puts customers in control as they get to choose a delivery company, price, time of pickup, and delivery, as well as the ability to track their packages,” he adds. With its current aggressive growth plan, the company is well-positioned to become a leading logistics marketplace in Africa.