Founded in 2014, Sendy has grown to become a key player in the African logistics market, with a presence in Kenya, Uganda, Cote d'Ivoire, and Nigeria. The company's expansion plans include entering Egypt and South Africa within the next eight months.
Sendy's fulfillment infrastructure aggregates market, logistics, and financial services solutions, enabling small businesses to conduct commerce seamlessly. This infrastructure is designed to simplify the process of selling products, allowing businesses to focus on their core operations.
According to Mesh Alloys, Sendy's co-founder and CEO, the company's goal is to make deliveries affordable for customers. 'For us, the question we're answering is if that's the amount being spent, what is going to be the delivery fee for a customer to be able to get that product at an affordable price?' Alloys notes that the average basket value of a Kenyan shopper online is between Sh1,000 and Sh3,000.
Sendy's model works by solving a problem in a key economic sector that is underdeveloped. 'As a business, if you start operating you want to sell to your customers. In the developed world, the infrastructure is there for you and you don't have to worry about that. But here you find businesses will have to build their own or try and manage it themselves.'
Sendy's impact on the logistics ecosystem has been significant, with the company creating a ripple effect when its systems are down. The company's vision is to impact Kenya and Africa the way e-commerce giant Alibaba has done for China.
With the pandemic accelerating e-commerce in Kenya, Sendy has stayed ahead of the game by talking to its customers. The company's typical day involves ensuring that its strategy and vision are on track, looking for resources, nurturing a company culture, and rallying a great team to success.
Sendy's competition is mostly the informal sector, including boda boda riders, as the start-up concentrates on the last mile market. The delivery and logistics market is also segmented, with big players doing the first-mile heavy lifting.