A couple of weeks in the past, I purchased a laptop computer in Nairobi for a pal working in Ndhiwa Sub-County, some 400 Km away in Homa Bay County. The instant downside was a contemporary Kenyan dilemma: get the delicate bundle there safely and on time.
In at present’s workplaces, a scarcity of a pc usually means a complete work stoppage. This urgency made the timing essential. Because it was a Friday, and my pal was off on Saturday, a Monday morning supply appeared simply achievable.
I had two primary selections. The primary was to make use of one of many ubiquitous bus firms that journey the western Kenya route, taking parcels together with passengers. The second was to rent a longtime courier service, lots of which additionally function as safety suppliers.
The conventional bus possibility, with its set departure and arrival occasions, provided a semblance of predictability. Nevertheless, there was a significant catch: no door-to-door service. Assortment requires a protracted wait on the town as employees kind luggage and packing containers. Worse, security is a bet. Buses deal with parcels as secondary to passengers; their phrases usually state that loss, theft, or injury is on the sender’s danger. Tales of parcels deserted within the rain or snatched at stops are widespread.
The couriers, together with corporations like G4S, sounded higher, promising door-to-door service. I selected one, arranging for a Monday morning drop-off, permitting a full weekend for transit.
Monday arrived. By midday, nothing. By 2 p.m., nonetheless ready. I known as the contact. The laptop computer, I used to be informed, was nonetheless in Homa Bay city, solely 50km from Ndhiwa. A complete weekend had handed, but the bundle was stranded. It lastly arrived round 5 p.m., however by then, my pal’s workday was successfully misplaced. My expertise just isn’t distinctive; a fast look on-line reveals a barrage of comparable complaints in opposition to varied courier companies.
The Logistics Nightmare
Kenya’s supply panorama is a chaotic mix of outdated and new. Conventional strategies, like buses and the packed minibuses referred to as matatus, are low cost however sluggish and dangerous. Then there are courier corporations which doubled up as safety suppliers like Wells Fargo and G4S. They provide safety however are sometimes costly and notoriously late, particularly exterior main cities. Supply is additional hampered by poor infrastructure, with deep potholes that flip some roads into impediment programs. For last-mile supply, the bikes, or boda bodas, are important, making life simpler for a lot of, although their reliability and safety requirements range.
This logistics nightmare is a key constraint on the anticipated e-commerce growth in Kenya. Small and medium companies constantly battle because of inefficiency in dealing with and last-mile supply. A report from just a few years in the past estimated that the nation loses billions yearly to logistics woes: vans idle in site visitors, drivers make errors, and clients, weary of ready, merely cease shopping for.
For a rustic that prides itself on being the “Silicon Savannah,” with its thriving tech hubs and startups, the failure to resolve this fundamental bodily motion downside has lengthy been perplexing.
A New Method from the “Silicon Savannah”
Then, I got here throughout Pastel Blues, a brand new enterprise from a younger Kenyan named Evans Kiarie Mwangi. What initially appeared like simply one other tech app rapidly impressed me. Evans and his crew are usually not outsiders; they’re Kenyans who perceive the native pains, the delays, the arbitrary prices, and the stress of not understanding “the place is my stuff?”
Pastel Blues is an AI-powered logistics platform designed to easy the supply course of. It begins with Good Order Administration, robotically integrating orders from e-commerce platforms like Jumia with out handbook information entry.
Subsequent is AI Route Optimization. The system analyzes maps, site visitors, climate, and previous efficiency to pick out the neatest path, not simply the shortest. This cuts down on gas and time, decreasing prices considerably. For a driver heading to Ndhiwa, the A.I. would possibly suggest: “Skip the congested market; take the lakeside bypass.”
Monitoring is dwell and exact, akin to watching a broadcast. GPS on the motive force’s telephone provides real-time location updates: “Left Nairobi,” “Coming into Homa Bay.” Prospects and drivers can talk immediately by the app, eliminating blind calls to customer support.
Evans emphasised that the expertise is designed to resolve a common Kenyan downside. “Deliveries contact everybody right here,” he stated. “The mama mboga (vegetable vendor) transporting to totally different markets, the instructor ordering books. We make it straightforward to allow them to give attention to rising their enterprise.”
Early outcomes have been robust. Sciencelab LLC, a distinguished investor, has built-in the platform into its operations for order achievement and administration, reporting a 20 % discount in supply prices and a notable enchancment in total profitability.
This success has attracted consideration, with Pastel Blues lately securing $200,000 (Ksh. 25.8 million) in pre-seed funding. The funding is earmarked for additional growing the A.I., increasing its market attain, and offering a definitive reply to the basic downside of getting a fragile bundle safely and swiftly throughout Kenya.
Conclusion
Listed below are just a few factors to recollect. Pastel Blues is an AI-Powered logistics platform designed to assist companies handle their supply networks. Its key options are targeted on overcoming the precise ache factors usually skilled with conventional strategies:
Good Order Administration: Automated processing and routing built-in immediately with main e-commerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Squarespace.
AI Route Optimization: Using machine studying to investigate supply patterns and suggest cost-reducing, clever routes.
Actual-Time Monitoring: Offering dwell GPS monitoring, supply notifications, and buyer communication instruments to remove guesswork.
Driver Administration: That includes a driver market, efficiency analytics, and fee monitoring.
Superior Options: Providing refined instruments corresponding to automobile capability planning and priority-based routing.
