The face behind e-logistics startup, Lori

By Steve Umidha

The founding story of Lori Systems, a local startup based in Nairobi is one that Jean-Claude Homawoo is very passionate about.

Mr. Homawoo, a Togolese with a rich background in everything technology, is the co-founder of Lori, a logistics coordination platform that seamlessly connects Cargo Owners to Transportation – a description that is assertively splashed on the company’s website.

“I think the founding story is really the one about our CEO Josh being in business for what most people do, you know you study different markets and different businesses.

He wrote his dissertation on the impact of logistics on emerging markets like Kenya and actually ending up spending a lot of time working with the Kenyan government on the study he was doing looking at the impact of logistics and supply chain from the farm and how the cost accumulate to make the goods that end up on the table so expensive compared to the price they were at the farm,” he opens up during an interview with this writer.

It is from this underpinning that Jean-Claude says the company is fast mastering the art in e-logistics business, a fast in this market and a concept yet to be fully comprehended, owing to how it has simplified the transportation and logistics of getting the product from the farm the table.

“As an outcome of working on this project, we really started to understand the reasons why these issues exist. And a lot of time we found that these issues had to do with transportation of goods and logistics involved,” narrates an Alumni of the prestigious Harvard Business School.

Adding, “the very process of getting that mango from a farm to the table was contrived, was complex, was opaque, there was no coordination and there is multiparty but not coordinated, which makes it really hard to have an efficient industry.”

The former employee of Google, whose earlier engagements with the multinational saw him live and travel in many countries including Brazil, Mexico, Hong Kong and USA among others, admits that the decision to part ways with Google was not an easy one.

But the idea to venture into Lori came naturally for him for a simple reason. Initially he’d helped build a company in Hong Kong before trying his hands on a number of hedge tech firms after a decidedly competitive interview. It was these experiences abroad that helped broaden his vision on opportunities back in Africa.

“Whatever I do, my Alpha I has always been to return to Africa to share my knowledge. So with Lori I’d wanted to build a technology-based business.  So Lori was an ambitious plan to solve the problem, by making logistics business a transparent and well-coordinated one – those efforts he says have been worth the trouble, as the initial target is bearing fruits.

This concept, he believes is primarily meant to address the high cost of goods from the source of origin as well as ease the pressure on consumers.

“I believe we have demonstrated results and we have a number of shippers who we are working on that are very satisfied. There has been simplification of in terms of transportation,” who says that LORI looks at logistics as an economic cornerstone for building more stable and transparent societies in not only Kenya but also other markets where it has operations.

Lori Systems built from an initial USD 6.1mn capital from friends and investors as well as borrowings first launched in Kenya quietly a few years ago and started working with a network of trucking companies, according to Jean-Claude, and has since then built a logistics platform to improve cargo transportation across Africa. Most importantly, Lori Systems can optimize truck utilization so that you don’t waste time and money.

The company also handles invoicing, payment and tracking. It’s an all-in-one platform that leverages technology to elegantly solve logistics issues that have been around for a while.

Lori has also expanded internationally — working with fleets in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and South Africa while also increasing the types of cargo that its fleet operators are transporting.

He also thinks Lori has the competence to surpass its current portfolio because of the opportunities around including the rapid usage and growth of mobile payment platform and stable telephony industry.

The existence of red tape he however, believes African governments need to address in order to attract entrepreneurs and startups.

The company estimates that the relative cost of moving goods in East Africa is one of the highest in the world, leading to up to 75 per cent of a product cost’s going to logistics compared to 6 per cent in the US.

“Lori enables the logistics space to operate at an order of magnitude more efficiently than it does today. Higher efficiency through Lori has been demonstrated to drive costs down which, in turn is expected to create new jobs & stimulate overall economic development in a tangible way,” the firm says on its website.

Jean-Claude believes that e-logistics or digital logistics is going to revolutionize the industry for good.

“The future of Lori will to continue the systems that are required as pursuing our mission which is to make the cost of moving goods more affordable and efficient,” he concludes.

Def.:

E-logistics is basically automating the logistic process. Logistics plans, implements and controls the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services, and related information from the point-of-origin to the point-of-consumption in order to meet customers.