The Chief Executive Officer of Pine, Mr. Nwokoro Kaodilichukwu, in this interview speaks on the need for efficient framework, supported by technology to enhance Nigeria’s logistics sector. Nosa Alekhuogie brings the excerpts:
What is Pine all about and what is its vision?
Pine is a technology driven logistics platform that connects shippers to haulage companies, truck and van drivers, be an individual, large corporation or small and medium enterprises. The platform is open to everybody as it makes the process easy. All you have to do is request for a particular type of truck/van from the list of presets and the platform will handle your payment and goods in Transit Insurance and the good thing is that you can do it from anywhere, at any time.
We also have a fleet management solution called Pine Carrier (available free on Android and iOS) where truck owners can effectively manage their fleet and drivers and earn money directly. You don’t need to have other people manage your trucks for you, you get to see available detailed orders yourself, accept and assign it to your drivers, they follow up and payments are made directly into your account. You can also check real time location as the trip(s) is ongoing. You can add as many drivers and trucks as possible. Pine Carrier gives you control over your assets and earnings. We want to spur economic activities by providing a one stop solution to handle the movement of goods across the country and beyond, we also want to empower people by providing avenues to earn and cater for themselves.
What are the challenges you have faced so far?
Some of the challenges we face are identical to the general challenges facing the Logistics sector in Nigeria. Port congestion is a major one, sometimes truck drivers spend weeks picking up or dropping cargo at Apapa Port, which handles about 75 per cent of imports in Nigeria. An efficient framework is urgently needed and we hope the recently introduced e-call up system salvages the situation. Poor infrastructure and road network have also hampered operations. Some routes are challenging and sometimes it requires splitting the cargo into smaller units so the trucks don’t topple, hence increasing the cost. Insecurity is another challenge we are facing, some drivers don’t go to certain routes because of banditry and armed robbery, which has adversely affected securing goods in transit insurance for cargoes heading to those routes.
Do people have to download the application before they can have access to your services?
Not only via the app, we also offer tailored third party supply chain services for clients who wish to outsource their supply chain. Using this template, we work hand in hand with clients to make sure their goods are effectively distributed across the country and this gives clients breathing space to focus on the actual trading and manufacturing activities. We are also working on implementing other channels like USSD for places or individuals with low or no internet penetration, this way basic functions and data can be acted on in rural areas.
What plan do you have for the population that isn’t technology savvy?
We are doing our best to sensitise people on the need to adopt new technologies through webinars, forums, a dedicated on-boarding team and a well documented frequently asked questions (FAQ) with illustrations in order to make it easier to understand how to use our platform, and once people see how easy the process is for them, they never go back to the manual way of requesting for haulage services. We will always stay ahead by building solutions.
What has been your guideline for running this business effectively?
Good corporate governance, putting customers first, taking note of customers’ feedback and improving on existing offerings are some of the basic but very important measures we have put in place to make sure each process runs smoothly. We also follow rules and regulations set by government agencies to operate. For instance, we strictly enforce validity of Vehicle licence and insurance, road worthiness, Drivers Licence and all other required Know Your Customer (KYC) guidelines before users can use our platform to move cargoes.
The ‘New Normal’ has changed the game of every business, what impact has it had on your business?
I would say a strong positive impact. People are looking for ways to carry on with their businesses with less physical presence and this has put us in the spotlight because we automate the services without the need for much physical presence.
The other side of this is the drastic reduction of movement of goods whenever lockdown is enforced, hence weak revenue, at this time, only essential goods can be moved.
What is your goal for Pine in the next five years?
We want to power trade and commerce in Africa. We want to make it easy for people to move goods of different sizes securely and fast without limitations. Currently, e-commerce activities in Africa are on the rise but still limited due to lack of proper logistics framework, domestic payment limitations and cross-border payment limitations. We intend to fix the missing pieces of the puzzle to allow for the original model of e-commerce and trade to thrive in domestic markets and also connect cross-border markets. We are looking forward to rapid expansion across the country and beyond and our biggest goal is to offer cross-border rates in Africa by taking advantage of the AfCFTA agreement which recently commenced at the beginning of this year. What this means is that a trader/manufacturer can count on us for product reach within a domestic market and to other African countries.
Your field is highly saturated, how are your services different from other players in the same space and how have you handled competition so far?
Our platform is a bit different in the sense that we help maintain a workable market price. Price inflation is a thing in the haulage industry so we created a fair Business-to-Business (B2B) marketplace and constantly monitor inflation and other economic activities to set a price that is fair for both parties. We also offer a tailored solution for clients in need of third party supply chain services and this solution is priced differently according to their needs. Also we take Know Your Customer (KYC) guidelines very seriously. Government issued identities are verified before you use the platform; we assess the trucks physically to make sure all assets registered under us are up to standard and road worthy. Taking this a step further, the platform is designed in a way that you can only undertake a job if you have that exact truck requested, this way clients get exactly what they want and we keep fraudulent activities away from our platform.
We also added the ability to add different delivery locations for efficiency. Take, for instance, you have three customer orders that can fit in one truck but going to different locations, all you do is specify the three delivery locations and it goes in the order of the closest to that last location with respect to distance.
We also have a code based confirmation of goods and this feature helps shippers to be sure the exact quantity of goods were delivered for accountability.
For competition, we are constantly learning from the market and customers to actually solve problems peculiar to them. We combine competitive analysis and known challenges to offer services that are value for money in terms of approach, customer experience and satisfactions.
What has Pine put in place in regards to securing payments of clients as cybercrime is on the rise in Nigeria at the moment?
We take proactive steps to know our customers and make sure assets registered under us are truly owned by them or they have the necessary permissions to do so. Hence they follow an on-boarding process before being activated to use the platform, we require and verify a means of identification like National Identification Number (NIN), Drivers License, Vehicle Insurance, Road Worthiness and CAC certificate (for companies) before undertaking a haulage job off the platform. Drivers cannot accept to undertake a haulage trip if they don’t have that particular truck/van a client requested, this way it makes the platform more efficient and you get what you requested for. For payout to drivers, the profile name and the bank account name must match or payouts won’t be sent.
For card payments, we use Flutterwave’s 3D secure and PCI DSS level 1 payment gateway to process the payments. These are Payment Card Industry standards put in place to mitigate fraud and make sure cards used for payments belong to the rightful owners.
