Bootstrapped and bold: The team behind OyaNow is transforming the logistics sector

On the OyaNow platform, users can order whatever they need from their favorite stores and see it delivered to their doorstep. There is no need to spend time in traffic jams to buy food, medicine, etc. Users just need to log in to the platform and find what they need.

The company’s founding vision is to become the only business-to-consumer platform that Nigerians will ever need. In its seven years of operation, the company has faced many economic challenges and established itself as a leading provider of convenience, reliability and quality of service to individuals and businesses across Nigeria.

OyaNow’s success has not come without its fair share of challenges. Logistics in Nigeria are fraught with challenges, but the platform has risen to the occasion and is ready to share its success story with the world.

Logistics is big business in Africa, especially in Nigeria, home to more than 200 million people. In addition to the corporate giants that ship products and serve the B2B market, there is a thriving e-commerce market, fueled primarily by food delivery. Overall, the past few years have brought both dramatic opportunities and threats.

In 2019, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, people were forced to quarantine indoors, which meant many had to rely on delivery services. One positive side to all of this was the rise in e-commerce users, especially those who wanted food delivered. Post-covid, the continent’s e-commerce market has continued to boom, with almost 400 million online shoppers in 2022 and 90.9 million e-commerce users in Nigeria alone. In 2022, the online food delivery market in Nigeria was estimated to be worth $834.7 million.

Despite this huge market, profitability is a major challenge for many players in the food delivery landscape. Last year, two food giants—Bolt and Jumia—shut down their food delivery operations in Nigeria. Both companies indicated the need to streamline their services and focus on more profitable segments. To underscore this point, it is worth noting that despite Jumia’s 11% gross merchandise value (GMV) in 2023, with a total food value of $64 million, Jumia Food was still not profitable.

E-commerce in Nigeria faces macroeconomic challenges and infrastructural constraints.

Despite this, OyaNow found its way to profitability and has been successful for 7 years. The question is, how did they manage to do it in a volatile and challenging market?

“In the business world, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and OyaNow has been flattering more times than we can count. From competitors who change our name to those who mirror our business model, imitators keep popping up. But the thing is, you can copy our tactics, but you can’t replicate our spirit. Competitors have tried to emulate our success by offering financial packages to poach our drivers and staff, but they’ve missed the point. What sets us apart isn’t just our business model; it’s our soul—a soul rooted in the courage, resilience, and passion of young Nigerian entrepreneurs. Our success isn’t a fluke; it’s a formula. We focus on convenience, reliability, and unparalleled service.” says Christabel AigbogunGeneral Director of OyaNow.

OyaNow started as a social commerce enterprise, which is a fancy way of saying it started by taking orders over WhatsApp and phone calls under a tree in Abuja. Founded by a pair of young Nigerian entrepreneurs, OyaNow started without outside funding or industry experience. What they lacked in resources, they made up for in perseverance and a deep understanding of market needs. The company did well in its early years because it tapped into an unsaturated market with the perfect product. During and after COVID-19, when many large companies were struggling to stay afloat, OyaNow took a strategic approach to continue to adapt to the average changes in the economic landscape. The company realized that the unit economics of food delivery were not sustainable, so it shifted its focus to a profit and loss (P&L) management system instead of simply wasting capital on marketing. Customer satisfaction was their top priority and they refined their platform to offer reliable, convenient and quality services by partnering with exclusive restaurants that also offer premium services. This approach has yielded profitability and sustainable growth over the years.

In a market dominated by big players, OyaNow has paved its way to becoming the leading provider of convenience, reliability, and quality of service to individuals and businesses across Nigeria. The platform has over 50,000 users, over 500 merchants, and locations in three major states: Lagos, Abuja, and Kano. The platform currently receives 21,000 orders per month and has had a GMV of $3 million since inception. It has also generated revenue of $1.4 million in seven years and is expected to reach a revenue of ₦400 million by 2024.

OyaNow has also consolidated its market by splitting it into two main services: OyaNow, which delivers food, beverages, errands and more, and OyaConcierge, a personal assistant.

OyaConcierge acts as your personal assistant, connecting you with a network of vetted professionals for a variety of home services, including handymen, car rentals, fuel refills, laundry services, house cleaning, and more. It was created to serve busy individuals who don’t have time to search, vet, and manage home service providers. The platform guarantees adherence to contractual obligations, ensuring that deadlines and costs are met. OyaConcierge is currently in beta in Abuja and has over 1,000 active beta users.

As their tagline, “We dey come,” suggests, OyaNow is just getting started. Other products in the pipeline include Oyatalk, OyaShop, and more. The company says market conditions will determine when these products will be released. In the meantime, customers can enjoy an efficient food delivery service while they wait for OyaConcierge to go public.

In a competitive market saturated with copycats, OyaNow is the undisputed pioneer with an unwavering commitment to quality and innovation that has set the bar high. While others may try to replicate their model, OyaNow’s success lies not only in their business strategy but in their spirit – a spirit of resilience, innovation and commitment to serving customers efficiently. The company hopes to continue to build on this spirit to continue to shape the logistics and technology landscape in Africa in the years to come.