E-commerce has opened many doors for businesses to reach a broader market. With that access to global markets comes the challenge of improving distribution efficiency, an area that remains a prevalent challenge for small and medium businesses, especially amongst developing nations. Izin Akioya hopes to solve that problem across the African continent and empower more local businesses in the process.
Izin is co-founder at SAG Logistics, a logistics start-up that is poised to take the African market by storm, while enabling thousands of business owners. She is a marketing expert and serial entrepreneur with a passion for significance and impact. Her company is building a bouquet of digital logistics solutions intended to revolutionize the African continent’s growing e-commerce community.
The entrepreneur and e-commerce advocate grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, one of the continent’s fastest-growing tech scenes. First, she joined AIESEC International, a global non-profit organization directed toward developing youth leaders. That association would open the door to her first leadership role as vice president talent management on the local committee’s executive board. This, while pursuing a full-time undergraduate degree in Economics at the University of Lagos.
Izin’s early introduction to retail sales in her teenage years, inspired her post-graduation trajectory in a 10 year+ marketing and sales/distribution combination career, working to bring a range of products and services to customers and consumers alike.
Her interest in manufacturing, and distribution, cultivated while managing sales and advocating for a range of brands, owned by the retail-focused British American Tobacco Nigeria, combined with her experience building multinational, regional and local brands as an advertising professional spurred her into launching a garment manufacturing company in 2016. The challenges encountered while digitizing garment retail and fulfilling customer orders within the Africa region and globally, informed her keen interest in bridging the logistics gaps she encountered on the continent, and led to her co-founding SAG Logistics.
SAG Logistics is one of few exports focused African Logistics companies on a mission to charter access to global markets for small and medium African businesses, by providing access to affordable, efficient, shipping automation, order fulfilment support, and warehousing. SAG Logistics provides multicarrier API integration, price comparison and last mile order fulfilment support to small and medium businesses and social sellers.
There couldn’t be a better time for an Africa region focused logistics company like SAG Logistics. Africa’s e-Commerce remains on a high innovation, high-growth trajectory, due to the convergence of key indicators: the continent’s demographics, internet and mobile penetration projection, digital transformation and ecosystem maturity. In addition, the potential to harness the benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) are huge.
The agreement, driven by a 54-member economic bloc looking to cut tariffs on 90% of goods and liberalise trade across Africa, will catalyse trans-border exports. From a global supply chain perspective, the removal and consolidation of tariffs has immense benefits for the region’s manufacturing players as it is expected to improve the continent’s viability as a sourcing destination for both raw material, value-added products and direct to consumer goods.
Recently inducted into the Africa House Unicorn Incubation Programme Plano, Texas, SAG Logistics is on track to launch its bouquet of market solutions, aimed at galvanizing the African continent’s trade with high value markets. Izin’s role as chief marketing officer is targeted at leading market insights for effective product development, building key industry and third-party partnerships for customer acquisition and market development, while leading regulatory and government engagement.
Izin hopes that SAG Logistics will become a household name across the continent’s small and medium business and social seller segment, helping to build wealth through digitization and automation. The business is targeting growth in existing high value markets with the hope of becoming the go to partner for seamless global trade.
Learn more about SAG Logistics on its website.
