MPost to expand to South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda for e-commerce business
ZTN Correspondent
KENYAN startup Taz Technologies, the firm behind digitised mail service technology application MPost, has announced plans to speed up its expansion into the Sub-Saharan region to tap into opportunities presented by the implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Speaking during a Trade Forward podcast organized by the International Trade Centre (ITC), a joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation, Twahir Mohamed, the CEO of Taz Technologies said the company is keen to venture into Uganda, South Africa, Rwanda, and Burundi in their first expansion phase.
“We have already closed an agreement with Uganda, and we are currently in talks with the South African Post Office, with potential of having an agreement by the end of the year. We are also in the final stages of our deliberations with Rwanda and Burundi,” said Mohamed.
South African small businesses will be part of the entities in the sub-Saharan region that benefit from the MPost Tap-A- Delivery innovation leveraging on opportunities from the AfCFTA.
“Small businesses can leverage MPost as pick up and drop off agents. They can further earn income when customers use their space through storage fees,” said Mohamed.
MPost is a patented technology enabling any mobile phone user to transform his or her phone into a unique mobile postal box at an affordable annual fee of $3. Through a configuration of exclusive partnerships with the national postal services of countries around the world, users can register themselves with Mpost to send and receive mail and parcels.
The MPost expansion plan will be phased with the first phase rolling out into ten more countries over the next two years. Currently, MPost is seeking approximately $25 million broken into an initial public offering, venture capital phase and a follow-on mezzanine private equity phase.
According to Mohamed, Taz Technologies aims to scale and replicate its achievement in Kenya to other countries in Africa through leveraging on support through programmes such as ITC’s One Trade Africa. The programme seeks to address non-tariff measures, simplify cross-border trade transactions, and improve the business ecosystem at both national and regional levels with a focus on the AfCFTA.
In Kenya where Taz Technologies first rolled out the MPost technology, the service provides a convenient, reliable, and affordable way to send and receive packages, it also provides last mile connectivity, through post offices worldwide.
Besides partnership with MPost, the PCK has a strategic partnership with Taz Technologies for the delivery of postal items, mail and parcels originating from the Post Office delivered to the customer’s doorstep.
