Grace Ashiru
Zipline has announced that it will work more closely with the Rwandan government to speed up the delivery of medical supplies to the country.
Through the partnership, government agencies like the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, the Rwanda Development Board, the Rwanda Medical Supply, and the National Child Development Agency will be able to use Zipline’s services, such as the delivery of medicine, medical supplies, nutrition, and animal health products.
Rwanda Development Board CEO Clare Akamanzi said the goal is to use Zipline to improve Rwanda’s healthcare supply chain, fight malnutrition, and help the country’s eco-tourism industry. She called this a “national drone service.”
The logistics and drone delivery company wants to make almost 2 million same-day deliveries and fly more than 200 million miles in Rwanda by 2029.
The partnership will add new delivery sites in rural and urban areas of the country, and the number of deliveries is expected to triple.
Zipline was started in 2014 and has raised $486 million so far. It is already in use in Ghana, the United States, Nigeria, and Japan, and it will soon be available in Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya.
This is the first time a government has hired Zipline to provide a national drone service, and the expanded partnership could help the company persuade other countries to do the same.
