Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, thousands of customers have been forced to do over with their offline behaviour and adopt buying from e-commerce stores, websites and social media pages. This action has led to a rise in the use of shipping and delivery services and above all, a look at global markets.
In that same pandemic year, Topship, a shipping platform built with African merchants in mind was born to fill the gap in the space solving most of these problems and ensuring that goods get to either the merchants or the consumers within a record time.
For the average African merchant, shipping internationally is a hassle. There are exorbitant charges, logistical uncertainties, hidden charges and uncertainty around customs clearance to mention but a few and Topship’s Co-founder & CEO, Moses Enenwali, believes the company will thrive in the African market.
“We are here to solve this problem and make use of technology to help African merchants move their goods across the world easily,” he says.
Before the pandemic and most importantly now, African merchants are realising that the quality of their products is worthy of competing in the global market and there is a very huge market outside the country. What Topship wants to do is to bridge that gap and ensure that small and medium scale owners can access new markets, new audiences and do this without little or no hassle.
With Nigeria opening up to the world and increasing exports to other countries, the company is getting on the wave. According to Enenwali, “local manufacturers in places like Lagos, Kano and Aba would like to take advantage of this opportunity and we believe in the next couple of years, we would establish a presence across Africa.”
“Our unique model (asset-light and tech-heavy) allows us to serve a wider range of merchants across the continent and make improvements to the user experience that traditional shipping/logistics companies simply cannot afford to make.”
With Topship, merchants can ship their raw materials and their goods back and forth. They can cargo foodstuffs and other items from Nigeria to select countries, import parcels from across the globe to Nigeria and also select from a wide range of shipping options (express, basic, and cargo) based on a variety of factors, needs and criteria (e.g price and delivery time). An even wider range of Topship services can be found here.
One thing that the one-year-old startup is also primarily focused on is meeting the needs of its customers and doing this easily. So whether you’re a small-scale entrepreneur trying to export your products to a larger market, a student trying to send scripts and documents to Canada, or just a digital millennial looking to shop and have the latest gear delivered to you, there’s a Topship offering for you.
At the moment, customers can make use of the newly designed web platform to create an account and have their deliveries picked up from their homes or at multiple drop-off locations spread across Lagos and Ibadan for now. They can also track their shipments or request a quote with this web platform, all at their convenience.
Topship is already operating in every state in Nigeria, with plans to open processing centres Nationwide and Across major cities in the continent. Ultimately, Topship aims to be the shipping platform for African merchants, given its rich network and model which allows it to handle both express and cargo deliveries. It is both cheaper and more effective and committed to navigating this journey with African merchants.
You can follow Topship across social media (@topshipng) or send them an email – [email protected] if you have any enquiries.
