From Uche Usim, Abuja
A major feat to deepen the e-commerce solutions space in Nigeria has been recorded with the launch of instant delivery services aggregation app by Ekeneze Technologies Limited.
The Inyinya Delivery App, founded by Nigerian diaspora technology professionals in the United Kingdom and registered in Nigeria, is a mobile phone platform which enables users of instant delivery services to access bicycle, motorcycle, car and van delivery riders and drivers electronically with ease on their mobile devices.
Available for download on the Apple Apps and Google Play Stores, the technology is akin to the taxi-hailing apps and eliminates the expenditure of time, cost and effort on phone calls and the internet in search of suitable motorcycle delivery riders, as currently obtains in the country.
According to Chikodi Anele, the UK-based IT entrepreneur and promoter of Inyinya App, “unlike the numerous existing delivery companies in Nigeria, the Inyinya App’s unique offering works as an aggregator platform for existing delivery companies and individual dispatch riders who may own from one to several delivery vehicles like motorcycles and vans in their fleet. Delivery service companies who are on-boarded (a terminology used by taxi and delivery services hailing platforms to describe the process of registering independent delivery driver and rider partners on their platforms) on the Inyinya App may not need to maintain expansive and expensive offices, as the technology of the app will send customers’ delivery bookings direct to the drivers and riders within the coverage areas.
“The Inyinya App technology also makes it possible for instant delivery needs in local communities, in particular, around the emerging large residential estates in Nigeria’s big cities to be fulfilled by youths on both pedal and motor cycles. As is the trend in countries around the world, developed and developing alike, last mile and instant deliveries on bicycles have become a substantial source of employment for young people and students and will be a welcome development for Nigeria, a country reputed for its run-away youth unemployment of more than 14 percent as at 2020, according to the country’s Bureau of National statistics.
“Indigenes of Nigeria, wherever in the world they may live, should explore every avenue to expand job opportunities for the teeming youth population in the country and, making instant delivery on bicycles possible and safe around the cities and rural areas is a welcome mission”, he explained. On full rollout across the country, Anele noted that the bouquet of mobile technology products under the Inyinya Apps platform, comprising delivery and mobile grocery products, will create over a quarter of a million jobs in Nigeria and would enable hundreds of thousands more to gain sources of income.
The company, he added, is currently mapping out suitable estates around Lagos and Abuja and other large cities, in addition to identifying communities with suitable roads networks on which delivery on pedal cycle can be carried out by young people safely, from local shops and supermarkets to homes.
“With the Inyinya App, anybody who owns a delivery vehicle- which can be bicycle, motorcycle, van or cars, and a smartphone can start earning at their own time as independent delivery partner drivers and riders on the platform. Partners can work at their own pace.
“The technology works by matching delivery booking by a customer with a delivery driver or rider on the Inyinya Apps platform, deploying similar technologies to that used by taxi hailing apps, using complex mathematical algorithms to choose the most suitable and available driver to send the customer booking to.
“The technology will also provide the delivery rider or driver, the most efficient route to the pickup and delivery location, avoiding routes with major traffic build-up, thereby enhancing the speed of delivery. The user does nothing else after entering the address of the pickup and delivery locations other than checking his or her mobile phone every now and then to track the progress of the delivery on the app.
“The payment for the service comes out of the user’s bank account as an electronic payment that has already been set up, or as cash payment in the case in which the user does not wish to pay by electronic transfer.
“The Inyinya App offering come handy for small delivery companies who do not own their own booking, dispatch, routing and tracking technologies as well as enabling them cut down on overhead cost, thereby making the essential savings that can be passed on to the customer to reduce the high cost of motorcycle delivery services which, has been identified by industry analyst as a major impediment to the realisation of the full potential of the growth of e-commerce in Nigeria”, he explained.