Kobo360 appoints Kagure Wamunyu as Africa region CEO
Kobo360 has officially launched its operations in Nairobi, Kenya, marking the company's first physical expansion into East Africa.
August 30, 2019: Kobo360 has officially launched its operations in Nairobi, Kenya, marking the company's first physical expansion into East Africa. The new regional office will be led by Kagure Wamunyu, CEO - Africa region.
Prior to this, Wamunyu has worked with Bridge International Academies as senior director strategy, East Africa; and country manager-Kenya at Uber. She did her masters student intern at the United Nations and holds a master's degree from University of California, Berkeley.
Kobo360 has been in beta operation in Kenya for five months, with access to over 3,000 trucks and truck owners. The company is delivering huge values and positive experiences to Kenyan logistics partners including Bidco Africa, Union Logistics Limited, and Intraspeed ARCPRO Kenya LTD as well as serving millers such as Bakhresa Group, Rafiki Millers and McNeel Millers.
The company looks to foster seamless intra-African trade by connecting and supporting cargo owners, truck owners & drivers, and cargo recipients.
Kenya's Port of Mombasa is the largest and busiest port in East Africa, handling more than 13 million tonnes every year. The port provides a direct connection to over 80 ports worldwide, whilst serving as a gateway to other East African countries such as Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, and Southern Sudan. As the technology logistics platform revolutionises the logistics value chain in Africa, currently estimated at $150 billion, Kobo360 is growing its reach in East Africa in order to support the thousands of freight companies who require a safe, reliable and cost-effective delivery of their goods to cargo recipients across the region.
Speaking at the official launch event in Nairobi, Wamunyu said, "Kobo360 has a deserved reputation for enabling an agile and connected supply chain, as well as reducing logistics frictions. Over the past five months, our homegrown team has been running operations in beta to ensure that we build a strong fleet of trucks and service businesses in Kenya looking to efficiently move goods.
"As the largest port in East Africa, Kenya's Mombasa serves as a gateway to other East African markets. Our presence in Kenya means we are in a position to leverage the nation's high technology adoption rate in order to fuel logistics in East Africa and beyond. We anticipate strengthening our links across this region, which will bring us closer to building our global logistics operating system (G-LOS) to ensure fast and low-cost movement of goods for businesses on the continent."
Joining Wamunyu and the Kobo360 team at the launch were Darshan Chandaria, CEO and director, Chandaria Industries; Rajan Malde, CEO, Pwani Oil; and Katsutoshi Nishi, general manager, Mitsubishi Itochu. Other delegates present were Ateet Jetha, managing director of Exxon Group. Commenting on the official launch, he said, "We are excited to see Kobo360's presence in Kenya. Since operating in beta, we have seen how they utilise technology to power enterprise and the logistics sector. We look forward to building a strong strategic partnership with Kobo360, as we fix supply chain inefficiencies across East Africa".
Kobo360 efficiently connects end-to-end haulage operations to help cargo owners, truck owners, and drivers, and cargo recipients to achieve an efficient supply chain framework. Through an all-in-one, robust logistics ecosystem reducing logistics frictions in the supply chain via a combination of internet of things (IoT), mobile technology and data analytics. In less than six hours, Kobo360 matches a user's request with a selection of quality trucks of all categories, anytime with service delivery guaranteed - no telephones, opaque pricing or expensive middlemen needed.
In 2019, Kobo360 launched in Uganda as well as Togo and Ghana, home to West Africa's leading container ports, and was named as "Disrupter of the Year" at the highly acclaimed Africa CEO Forum Awards in 2019. Kobo360 recently announced the completion of a $30 million fundraise, led by Goldman Sachs with participation from Asia Africa Investment and Consulting Pte. and existing investors including TLcom Capital, Y Combinator, the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Launched in 2017 by Nigerian entrepreneurs Obi Ozor and Ife Oyedele II, Kobo360's tech-enabled full truckload offering enables the development of an efficient supply chain for end-to-end long-haul freight operations, connecting and supporting cargo owners, truck owners & drivers, and cargo recipients.