This daily series focuses on business ideas for those looking to launch new ventures in Nigeria (and Africa in general). The short ideas are archived here.
The Problem
The Dangote Group operates more than 12,000 trucks. Largely, for all the success achieved by the Dangote Group, it has not managed its fleet optimally. The accidents are common, blocking roads and causing mayhem.
“[The Dangote Group] has a fleet size of 12,000 trucks … and are large users. One of the biggest challenges in the market today is logistics because we do not have a proper transport network,” he said.
The Opportunity
Because the Group has not managed its truck very well, there is an opportunity there. The Group needs to have a better way to maintain, track and route its trucks more optimally. The implication is that possibly someone else can do it better, deploying new technologies and capabilities. Nigeria would be served better if Dangote Group fleet are better managed.
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Action Roadmap
An entrepreneur can propose to Dangote Group to use digital freight matching, telemetry, IoT, blockchain, etc to improve the truck/fleet management. Simply, the company can outsource the logistics and management once it acquires the trucks.
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Iam. highly. impressed. by your write. up
Thanks – nice week ahead
This is the job of a capable supply chain manager? a competent in house supply chain team should be able to handle this effectively and cheaply, why would Dangote want to outsource this?, especially has he has a truck factory to go with it
No issues Don – they have a capable one and we are celebrating them on Nigerian roads
The point is this is an opportunity for a supply chain professional, in other words it’s more of a job opportunity than a start-up business idea.
If you open your mind well and read it, you would see that even though I used Dangote, BUA, Ibeto etc can benefit. There is a huge level of data analytics, etc that go into this. Most times, even in U.S. companies outsource because it requires a core competency you may not have in a company that moves cement. There is no company in Nigeria that delivers that type of service. If you open it, you can support BUA, DG, etc. Supply chain professional will need technology to work. You would provide that. I want to keep the business ideas short and not make them a business plan.
You would make sensors (IoT), have connectivity via satellites (GPS), dashboard linked to Google Driving etc and then know when there is accident even before the driver reports it. You track all the trucks realtime knowing delays to deliverables etc. I hope that clarifies this.
A colleague went into the fleet and logistics business about two years ago.but not sooner than he started encountering series of challenges ranging from untrust worthy driver, bad road that led to high overhead cost due to repair and maintenance and at the end accident.
Another colleague embarked on the same business in Lagos, from tincan/wharf to any part of the country. He also experienced the same problem in addition to lasma problem. Infact his own landed him in police custody.
Now, my experience of the two case study made me to realise that there are some exogenous factor in this business that one need to seriously put into consideration before venturing into the business either as fleet manager or contractor.
Managing such is why it is an opportunity. If it is easy, someone might have done it. Everything is hard until someone has done it. The best opportunities are usually in the areas many have failed. That should not stop people with capabilities to make things happen.
I agree professor. It is an opportunity because it has not been solved