Denis Opudo
Transportation of goods relies heavily on good suppliers and logistics providers. But the two are both in a heavy struggle. This is due to lack of a solution to streamline transactions between them. Goods transportation is an important sector that needs to be handled well. This will help in offering a positive impact on the final consumer. It also facilitates good access of goods by a country. This is according to co-founder of Kamtar Arthur Thuet. This is not the case in many African countries. In many African countries, logistic companies offer services of poor quality.
Many African countries rely on road transport to transport their goods. But because of poor logistics in those countries, one cannot deliver on a huge order placed to them. This has hindered the interregional trade at a huge percentage. Many logistic providers and goods suppliers are not in apposition to have a link between them. That is what Kamtar comes in to solve. Kamtar was launched to the markets back in January 2018. The platform offers an online goods transportation booking platform. The platform offers services to both individual customers and businesses.
Users visit the website, fill in the details of the transport job they want fulfilling. The platform then matches this to a truck driver registered on the site. Price is then stated and the user can either agree or disagree with it. In case they agree with the price, they are expected to pay upon completion of the job. In case one does not want to make an online booking or want to follow up on their bookings, a call center is always at their disposal. Moreover, the driver is able to get all the information on his driver app. This allows him to carry out the delivery on the expected date. The driver is also able to communicate with the customer and staff during the departure, offloading and unloading using the app. Furthermore, he is in a position to follow the driver on the map. This is important to those countries without a physical address.
Kamtar gets its revenue from the 15%-30% commission after the completion of delivery. The driver collects the fee after the trip and channels it to the startup using the app. By now more than 400 drivers have registered on the platform. Furthermore, there are 15 returning customers using the services regularly since the launch. The platform aims at first dominating the Ivorian market. But it hopes to expand into the neighboring markets. This will help it offer cross-border logistic services.
But the main challenge faced by Kamtar is the illiteracy and lack of tech skills by some drivers. The drivers need to use the platform and make their activity updates using the app. This is the only way to ensure that the platform is reliable. Due to that, the startup works more on training drivers. It also follows up to ensure that the job is completed according to the proper purchasing orders and with transparent pricing.
