Ghanaian Startup Swoove Pivots from Website Building to Logistics

Ghanaian startup Swoove has successfully pivoted from website building to logistics services. According to the CEO of Swoove, Kwaku Tabiri, in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, Africa’s made e-commerce industry has become highly competitive, resulting in an increased demand for logistics.

The initial company product, Curiashops, was a website building platform that allowed small businesses to create a free website in five minutes with only a phone number. After clocking a year, the company realised that delivery was a significant problem for the Ghanaian SMEs. Kwaku said, “After a year of working on it, we realised that a major problem for our customers was delivery – it was expensive and not easily accessible, making the platform incredibly difficult to grow. Just like how e-commerce sites require payments, we realised the e-commerce sector also needs logistics – seamless ease of access to affordable delivery, which was missing from the market”.

Hence, Ghanaian startup Swoove pivoted from website building to logistics services. Through the use of the web, app, USSD and API, the platform connects e-commerce with delivery services. With the aid of algorithm and batching, customers can schedule delivery ahead of time with 50% less for delivery. According to the CEO, “Our technology also enables the delivery companies to be efficient and do more deliveries on the go, while businesses get more affordable deliveries. Everyone wins”.

He added that “In Africa, the cost of delivery is 35 per cent to 55 per cent of the price of the product, pressured by issues such as weak infrastructure, limited delivery options and poor supply chain analytics. In Ghana, available third party delivery services are decentralised and thus operate inefficiently due to lack of experience and technology. This can be prohibitive when you are trying to make sales online, leading to lost sales”. According to him, this is where Swoove comes in.

With the US$15,000 grant from MEST Express early-stage accelerators and US$120,000 grant from Catalyst Fund, the company plans to expand to 15 other regions in Ghana by the first quarter of next year.

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