Logistics Marketplace Bwala Secures USD 235K In Debt Financing From CFC Stanbic Bank
Bwala Africa Group based in Nairobi has secured USD 235k debt financing from CFC Stanbic bank to help it meet growing demand for last mile connectivity emerging from its growing e-commerce business. The terms of the financing were not disclosed. Bwala Group is a logistics marketplace that provides an automated platform through its web portal providing customers quick and reliable solutions for hiring cars, trucks, and vans as well as connect its customers to competent mechanics as well as help then secure original spare parts.
The company has been running for 9 months now and has been able to fulfill over 6,000 deliveries within Nairobi. Bwala aspires to provide corporates as well as SME’s complete fleet management solutions and other value additions in this growing service sector including vehicle insurance and FMCG distribution.
According to the CEO and Founder Mr. Kennedy Nyabwala ” We have landed 3 major partnerships with Kenya’s top retail stores to power their last mile deliveries. The partners include Copia, Naivas, and Jumia which are by far the biggest retail and e-commerce brands in Kenya.”
The new financing will enable them to roll out 8 additional trucks from ISUZU East Africa in order to complement their fleet inventory. On the customer’s side, they have a payment platform Bwala Pay where customers make payment when they receive goods they had ordered from online platforms. This helps to tackle online fraud. Further value addition for customers includes the ability to connect car owners to a network of auto repair garages.
Bwala Staff Image Credit – Bwala
In a release to WeeTracker, Bwala mentioned, about how the Automotive business is ridden with many challenges that they had to overcome. Signing up truck owners proved to be very difficult in the beginning and this took time to overcome. They also did not anticipate the need to have motorbikes which come in handy when fulfilling last mile deliveries. Bwala Group is presently operating from a 12,000 sqm warehouse where they run the logistics and delivery operations. In addition to Kenya, their interest is to extend to neighboring countries including Uganda, Zambia, Ghana, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
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A team of 20 employees as indicated on their website provides the skills, technology, and manpower necessary to meet and deliver the needs of their customers.
As part of their bigger dream, they wish to further extend their service availability to India and Philippines whose needs mirror those in sub-Saharan Africa.
