Terminal Africa: The journey to transforming logistics solutions for African businesses

Globally, logistics serve an essential function of enabling trade and commerce through broad offerings that solve challenges affecting the flow and reverse flow of goods, whether from Business to Business (B2B), Business to Customers (B2C), or Customer to Customer (C2C).

In Africa, logistical solutions are essential to the survival of businesses due to the dearth of critical physical infrastructure and low connectivity on both the inter and intra-country levels. On the micro-scale, this embargo on the mobility of goods is one more hurdle for businesses already challenged by a complex operating environment. On the macro scale, there are lost opportunities for economies in the continent of nearly 1.3 billion consumers, as trade between African countries is only 14.4% of total African exports, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Meanwhile, the World Bank has posited that a broad scope of trade facilitating measures will be necessary to unlock $292 billion of the $450 billion in potential income gains from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

One company at the forefront of addressing the pain points for African businesses is Terminal Africa. Established officially in 2021, Terminal Africa is a software firm that facilitates continental and global commerce through scalable technology-based solutions. The company serves over 3,500+ businesses, shipping goods worth over ₦350m monthly.

“For many years, my brother and I have worked with various African entrepreneurs and helped them create online businesses,” said Udi Okoh, co-founder and chief marketing officer (CMO) of Terminal Africa. “By doing this, we learned more about the problems eCommerce businesses face with logistics and gradually built Terminal into the solution we have today.”

As an aggregator of logistics services, Terminal Africa enables businesses of diverse scales (micro-scale to large corporations), including individuals, eCommerce firms, and online vendors, to seamlessly connect with trusted logistics services providers. With the Terminal Africa platform, users can efficiently get shipping rates, arrange deliveries, generate labels, track shipments, and update their customers via a single online platform.

On the back of its company’s rich network of local and international logistics courier services, including DHL, Aramex, Kwik, Topship & UPS, users of Terminal Africa enjoy top-notch services and get competitive offerings.

“Each of our partners brings its unique value proposition to the customers through cost savings, speed of delivery, or security through insurance,” said Nnamdi Okoh, CEO of Terminal Africa. “The goal is to keep integrating more local and international couriers as we expand into other countries.”

To cater to its vast array of customers, Terminal Africa offers affordable subscription packages to lower delivery rates and optimise business costs. The different plans have been designed to incentivise business growth and enable upscaling for its users. Under the free plan, users enjoy 10% shipping discounts, up to 30 labels per month, and global address validation. The Tier-2 plan offers users 40% shipping discounts, up to 200 labels per month, and multi-piece shipments. On the other hand, subscribers to the Tier-4 plan enjoy 55% shipping discounts, unlimited monthly labels, and global pickups and delivery.

Beyond logistics services, The Terminal Starter, Terminal Basic, and Terminal Premium plans to feature a wide range of enterprise-promotion tools that help enhance business performance and help digitise operations for both SMEs, large businesses, and e-commerce outlets. Some of these tools available on Terminal help with practical and targeted advertising, provision of e-commerce dashboards or customisable website templates, stock and inventory management, free transfers monthly to any local bank account and digital corporate invoicing.

“We are making it easier for businesses, merchants, marketplaces, and platforms to grow and create value for the economy,” said Nnamdi. “We are also keen on empowering women-owned and women-led businesses, which currently constitute 60% of our client base.”

Although African-focused, Terminal Africa primarily serves companies in Nigeria now and is expanding into Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda by 2023.

Terminal Africa is social. Follow on Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter. Visit the company's website to learn more about Terminal Africa.

This article was written by Rhoda Oseni, Communication Assitant at M.Inc