Logistics and transportation costs in Africa are among the most expensive in the world. These high costs hurt businesses of all sizes, including the growing number of vendors and traders selling online.
In a bid ease the cost of doing business for smaller size businesses, the Small & Medium Enterprises Association of Nigeria (SMEDAN) have just signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) to offer SMEs registered nationwide with SMEDAN a 15% discount on logistics.
The discount comes into effect on Monday, August 26, and will be available to SMEs in two ways: online pickups and walk-ins.
The SMEDAN-NIPOST collaboration was signed on August 15 at the SMEDAN headquarters, led by Charles Odii (SMEDAN Director-General) and Tola Odeyemi (NIPOST Postmaster General).
Describing the partnership as a direct response to feedback from SMEs regarding the high cost of logistics and its negative impact on sales, Odii said:
High transport costs severely impact MSMEs in Nigeria by escalating their operational expenses, which diminishes profitability and can limit their competitiveness in the market.
We are signing today an offer of 15 per cent discount on logistics for small businesses and maybe in another three months the postmaster can make it 50 per cent or review it better.
This is the best time for this partnership, and in another three months, we are hoping that we can come back here and review what we have done.
We will articulate clearly how much we helped small businesses in Nigeria save through our monitoring and evaluation department, and then we can continue to see how we can better this partnership.
To ensure a seamless and positive experience for SMEs, both agencies will maintain a dedicated customer support unit to respond to complaints and address any issues that may arise.
This unit will provide prompt assistance, ensuring that SMEs can focus on growing their businesses without logistical hurdles.
- Numeris Média is officially accredited media to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games