Whether it was in West or East Africa, e-commerce figures were consistently curving up and increasingly requiringairfreight operators to step up their game, said Jade da Costa, CCO of Aero Africa.“Online shopping has seen phenomenal growth, with estimations of a 20-30% increase in cyber buying in these areas,” the neutral air services executive said.In West Africa, for example, where e-commerce is done directly out of the States, the independent consolidator is looking at inking deals with regionally tailored express companies to get goods to recipients through speedy last-mile options.But it’s on the opposite side of the continent, especially because of Kenya’s ability to come up with innovative cyber options, where Aero Africa is eager to ensconce itself in the East African e-commerce space.“We’re looking at partnering with a local company who can do quick clearances and final mile deliveries.”Currently it takes about a week to get online purchases from the States into Kenya.With the customs process of Kenya Revenue Authority generally adding another three days to the process, Aero Africa believes it can add a lot of value through wrapping up the whole process under the banner of one courier.“That’s all in the pipeline and I think it’s the way to go,” Da Costa said.He added that there were clear reasons why they were so excited to find right-fit courier colleagues not only to the west of the equator, but especially out east.“Kenya is far more advanced with some of their systems than we are in South Africa. With their distribution and courier network they make it very appealing to get involved, and we’re keen to see what their model can bring to our business.”He also mentioned their start-up know-how, with most in the e-commerce market agreeing that Kenya has come up with some pioneering ideas, even on a global scale.“Their M-Pesa mobile wallet app was the first such development in Africa. They showed the rest of us how to swop money through cellphone. They were years ahead of South Africa in that respect,” Da Costa said.Naturally, it’s why it’s felt that Nairobi holds the key to opening doors for Aero Africa out east.“If they can do that with e-commerce, we’re keen to see what they can do with transport solutions.“We know, for example, of a grassroots service provider who had 20 guys on bikes asking for last-mile shipments. Because they knew the lay of the land, they delivered twice as fast as couriers to hard-to-get urban and peri-urban destinations. Of course there were risk and liability concerns with certain distributors, but it’s the spirit of that kind of can-do attitude that appeals to us.‘It’s the same kind of out-of-the-box thinking we apply when we brainstorm independently crafted neutral service solutions for our clients.”
