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Merchant Stories

GIGL: Revolutionising logistics in Africa and beyond

May 19, 2023
May 22, 2023
3 mins read
Astor George
Astor George
Brand Storyteller

Editor's note:

In the intricate realm of commerce and manufacturing, where goods traverse vast distances, and currencies change hands, logistics companies are often the invisible heroes keeping the wheels turning and the cash flowing. 

In Africa, the leading logistics company helping goods move across the continent is God Is Good Logistics (GIGL). Chidi Ajaere founded God Is Good Logistics (GIGL) in 2012. But the story of the pan-African logistics company extends deeper into the 90s when Chidi’s father, Edwin Ajaere, a spare parts dealer, founded God Is Good Motors (GIGM), the first medium-size bus transport fleet in Nigeria.   

After Chidi took over GIGM in 2009 on the death of his dad, he went on usher in a phase of digitization and innovation at the company. The first of those is the logistics business. 

Chidi Ajaere’s objectives were clear:

“To become Africa’s leading logistics company and exceed our customers’ expectations through innovative tech solutions.”

The problems he was looking to solve were evident.

“Speed, safety, and trust issues were major issues in the logistics sector. People needed to be able to trust logistics companies to deliver their packages quickly and without any harm coming to them. These were the three things we needed to tackle,” says Ajaere.

But as Ajaere knew then, knowing the problems was just the first step. To establish GIGL, it was necessary to thoroughly comprehend the specific issues that needed to be addressed and develop solutions that were tailored to meet the demands of customers in the market. The next step was to search for individuals with exceptional intellect and the necessary expertise to collaborate with him in building the business.

“GIG Logistics started as a collaboration with GIG Motors,” Ajaere says. “Initially, some of our processes were manual. For example, signing up on the e-commerce platform required filling out a hardcopy Service Legal Agreement, and account creation could take weeks. But now, this has been automated so merchants can sign up on the GIGGo app in a few seconds.”

Now, 11 years later, GIGL has evolved from a native brand into a multinational corporation. It is operational in the United Kingdom, the United States, Ghana, China and 33 states in Nigeria.

“I think the biggest way that GIGL has evolved over the years — and the company’s most significant impact is that we’ve moved with the times and now use technology to solve customers’ everyday logistics problems. It’s pretty much what we always wanted,” Ajaere says.

For a while, a problem GIGL faced was funding merchants’ wallets. “It was cumbersome,” Ajaere says. “Our merchants had to transfer funds to an account before the amount was credited to the merchants’ wallets. This wasn’t sustainable, and as a customer-centric brand, we had to find a way to make this process seamless for our customers.”

GIGL and Kora have worked together since 2022 after being recommended as a tested and trusted payment platform. And according to Ajaere, GIGL’s collaboration with Kora has brought about an improved payment process and automation. GIGL uses Kora Checkout Standard API to power payment processing into customer wallets across web app, mobile app and mobile web with support for card payments, direct debit and bank transfers. 

 

“Our customers can seamlessly fund their wallets on the GIGGo app to pay for shipping and perform other transactions. We also needed to provide an option for customers to pay in USD. Kora helps us do that without stress,” Ajaere says.

At Kora, our goal is to connect Africa to the world and connect the world to Africa via payments. For startups and businesses working in Africa, we provide All The Support You Need ™️ to start, scale and thrive on the continent. Visit www.korahq.com to see all the ways you can thrive with Kora.