By Sunday Ehigiator
God is Good (GIG) logistic services, a leading logistic brand in Nigeria, is set to change the face of logistic services in Nigeria with the introduction of the ‘GIGGO’ mobile application, a digital logistic platform recently launched in Lagos.
In an interview with THISDAY, the Chief Operating Officer, GIG logistics, Mr. Ayodele Adenaike, said the technology was borne out of the need to retain the company’s growth rate and equally generate employment for several unemployed Nigerians.
According to him, “We have been in existence for the past seven years, and just within five years, we have grown from being that company nobody knew to being one of the biggest logistic brands in Nigeria.
“And in order to maintain our growth rate, we needed to deploy technology; hence we developed the ‘GIGGO App’ ourselves from the scratch to finish, so to serve Nigerians better.
“And the idea is, instead of putting money together to buy 200 vehicles, we can partner with 200 car owners who would run the logistic business for us, while they as well earn extra income. So, empowerment is another key thing this app has afforded us.
“This also now means that we can scale faster, even by committing less resources, respond quickly and take more shares of the ever grown logistics market. So that is what this app would be doing for us.”
On how the app works, Adenaike said, “The app works like the Uber application. So instead of going to the service center to go and drop off your shipments, you can just download the app on your mobile phone, register on it and make a request.
“The app would locate the nearest partner to wherever you are making that request, and connect the partner with the shipper. Hence the partner gets to the location, examine the shipment, agree on the weight; all the partners have a scale that they take around, and once that is agreed on, the shipment is made.
“Now, before you can ship, first you need to download the app, and also fund your wallet. That is the only condition for using the application. And you can do that using your visa or master card. So as we are shipping, we deduct the charges from the wallet, and if there is need for you to top up your wallet, you can easily top it as well.
“On the part of the partners, it means employment for unemployed graduates or youth; or additional income for people who are working with Uber, Taxify, or other transportation app we have now.
“You only need to get a bike, car, or lorry, and then download the app. There is a partner ‘GIGGO App’ as different from that of customer. Once you type ‘GIGGO App’ on your Google play store, you would see both. Partners are to download the one labeled for partners and customers are to download the other.
“Once you download the app as a partner, register on it, and you would get to a stage where you are to come to our logistics head office In Lagos, we are strategically located here in Gbagada, just before you curve towards the third mainland bridge.
“For security reasons and standard check, we request to see partners physically for documentation and inspection of their vehicles, lorry, or bikes. Once we pass them satisfied, then we licence them as our partner
“For the delivery, there are two ways about it. And I must place itonn record that we are also the first logistics company that would collect a shipment directly from a customer and take it directly to the receiver without bringing it to our office first.
“And the best we see today from other logistics company is that, they pack all shipments to be delivered in the same route together, and they start dropping them off one after the other, to unrelated receivers. But we take it directly from sender to receiver, one at a time.
“This makes the process seamless, because the plan is to ensure that shipments are made within the shortest time possible. But that is only for goods within a particular state, which we refer to intra-state deliveries. And for intra-state deliveries, partners gets as high as 80 percent of the bills customers are charged.
“This is so because, partners do the greater part of the delivery. However, for interstate deliveries, we get the higher share and the only role partners have to play is just to bring the shipments to the office, while we take it to anywhere in Nigeria the customer wants the goods delivered.
“The application has been officially launched, and we are currently in 85 locations across 25 states in Nigeria. By 2020, our aim is to cover the whole states in Nigeria.”
