Pick Up Mtaani is adapting to COVID-19 conditions.

The ygap Kenya team spoke with the founder of Pick Up Mtaani, Robert Mwalugha, about the impact of the pandemic on his venture, how Pick Up Mtaani is meeting increased demand across Nairobi, and their vision for a world beyond COVID-19. 

How has COVID-19 affected Pick Up Mtaani?

Pick Up Mtaani offers door-to-door delivery services for small, online businesses across Nairobi, delivering small parcels to their clients door step. Given the lockdown restrictions put in place throughout the city, a large proportion of Kenyans have turned to online shopping to meet their day-to-day needs. With a new found affinity for e-commerce, small businesses have been scrambling to find delivery partners to ensure that their products are delivered to their customers in a safe and secure way. At Pick Up Mtaani we’ve seen a spike in demand for our reliable and affordable delivery services.

What support is Pick Up Mtaani providing to those affected by COVID-19?

Pick Up Mtaani is helping small, online businesses across Nairobi meet the growing demands for e-commerce and online shopping in light of the COVID-19 restrictions. By offering reliable and affordable door-to-door delivery services, the venture is ensuring that those across Nairobi can shop online without having to risk going out into public to pick up their shopping. 

What have been the challenges you’ve faced?

From a growth perspective, we’ve had to face a lack of appropriate storage bags to facilitate an increase in delivery of packages at the pick up locations. Whilst the restrictions have made more people shop online, we’re also seeing Kenyans experiencing reduced incomes in light of the economic consequences of COVID-19 and this has negatively affected the amount of shopping they’re doing online. 

What are the key ingredients for overcoming challenges?

For Pick Up Mtaani, the key ingredient to overcoming challenges has been reaching out for strategic advice, identifying specific action plans required, prioritizing them in line with resources available, and taking the bold step of strategy implementation. 

To help the venture pivot, Robert has reached out to the ygap Kenya team for support. The venture has received legal, strategic and financial support to facilitate this growth and to acquire the appropriate storage bags for efficient package deliveries. 

How have you been able to adapt so fast in the face of a pandemic?

We’ve been able to partner with 25 other small businesses, where these strategic business premises can serve as drop off and pick-up locations in different residential areas of Nairobi. This has allowed Pick Up Mtaani to establish a presence in new residential areas and assure their clients of their ability to deliver anywhere within the city. 

What does a post COVID-19 world look like for Pick Up Mtaani?

We will see a shift in the way people shop for personal goods, and retailers who provide a tech enabled, multi- channel approach will gain a larger share. Consumers have demonstrated a massive trial and adoption of these purchase methods over the past seven weeks. Therefore in a post COVID-19 world, online shoppers will demand a combination of speed, value and convenience moving forward. 

Pick Up Mtaani helps small, online businesses deliver their products to their customers by providing an affordable and reliable last mile delivery service. In the last 12 months, they’ve partnered with over 50 online businesses across Kenya and have delivered over 13,000 packages. For more information on Pick Up Mtaani: https://www.pickupmtaani.co.ke/

Pick Up Mtaani founder Robert Mwalugha is a participant in the ygap Kenya 2020 Program.