Jand2Gidi Announces New Technologies to Promote More Seamless Deliveries Worldwide

Mrs. Ujama Akpata and Mrs. Kikelomo Fola-Ogunniya, founders of Jand2Gidi, held a media conference on Wednesday, April 13th.

Ms. Nancy Ogbue, Event Host MC, moderated the event and introduced Jand2Gidi, praising them for their consistency over the years. She also mentioned that with Jand2Gidi, the usual frustrations associated with sending deliveries are becoming a thing of the past because the women banded together to solve a common problem.

Since its inception in 2013, Jand2Gidi has been on a mission to ensure that the process of local and international deliveries is seamless from start to finish.

It was an excellent opportunity for the female co-founders to discuss their partnership and the challenges of running a successful logistics company in a male-dominated industry. Mrs. Kikelomo, a lawyer, and Mrs. Ujama, a chemical engineer, have a long-standing relationship that demonstrates that women can work together and achieve great things. The two female entrepreneurs have grown together over the years, capitalizing on each other’s strengths to create an innovative, technology-enabled brand.

Regardless of the upheavals experienced during Covid-19, Jand2Gidi was able to embrace the turbulent realities and move quickly in digitizing their processes in order to remain competitive and relevant in meeting the needs of their customers wherever they are in the world.

When the company first started, its processes were very manual, and there was a limit to how many customers it could accommodate. However, over time, their operations have become fully automated, from their accounting services to their technology. As a result, the brand has been able to expand from where it was to accommodate more businesses, corporations, and individuals. And, as Mrs. Kikelomo reiterated, the company has remained true to its unique selling point of “bringing excitement to logistics.”

The brand is ready to be integrated into the websites of vendors via API – Application Programming Interface. This means that the Jand2Gidi new platform can interpret and capture customer data effectively.

Speaking on challenges, Ms. Ujama says – ‘’Like every business, we have faced a number of challenges e.g. customs issues, regulatory issues, policies that keep springing up on a daily basis. Also, we were in a male-dominated industry. When we started in 2013 there weren’t a lot of females doing business, so we faced a lot of resistance when we started”. 

They were able to pay for their first office space in Lekki Phase 1 within a year of running the business, which started as a side hustle while still actively working in the oil and gas industry, and since then, they have steadily grown in leaps and bounds; going from a small two-man office to expansion to the mainland, and shipping to different countries around the world.

Jand2Gidi has faced both challenges and victories over the last 9 years. They have received several awards and recognition, including winning the WIMBIZ/EbonyLife Sisterhood Awards for ‘Best Collaboration of the Year’ in 2016; being selected as a beneficiary of the 2017 Pilot Phase of the LSETF loan scheme for small businesses; and being named one of the ‘Top Fastest Rising SMEs’ by Business Day in 2019.

During the parley, there were also discussions about insurance and the brand’s stance on it. Ujama mentioned ‘We always encourage all our customers to take on insurance. It is something that we partner with insurance companies about – from shipping items from the UK, US, and Canada – we have marine insurance. Even locally all our goods that are in transit and for our staff who are working both in house and on the roads as well.’ 

Jand2Gidi intends to expand into countries such as Ghana and Kenya, as well as open more hubs in Lagos and Nigeria in the future. The company also intends to expand into Europe.

While the Co-founders are optimistic about raising capital from additional alternative financing sources, they have expressed gratitude to friends and family who have supported the business venture thus far. As more innovative companies secure increasing amounts of funding, the African logistics sector is on the rise. Jand2Gidi has enormous potential for disruption and acceleration, and it is eager to expand further with the assistance of investors and partners.