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Pride Mahlangu, Business Reporter

A BULAWAYO based startup company, Thumeza says 50 percent of costs in end products are due to inefficiencies along the logistics value chain.

The firm, which was established in 2018 said its maiden edition of the In-transit Logistics Ecosystem report was compiled using information extracted from the main points of business logistics such as Bulawayo, Harare and Victoria Falls.

“On a day-to-day basis, the logistics value chain contributes more than 50 percent to the cost of the end product.This is mainly due to inefficiencies within the logistics value chain that contribute to long loading and offloading times, lengthy vehicle queues to load, extended time slots for load consolidation and loss-making empty trips caused by a lack of transparency within the logistics ecosystem,” it said.

Presently, Thumeza is also working on solving inefficiencies in logistics which it said was another factor contributing to high pricing of goods and services obtaining in the local market.

The company believes the logistics ecosystem report would assist companies in optimising decision-making and achieving the best return on investment.

In an interview, Thumeza founder and the chief executive officer Ms Gugulethu Siso said their report was meant to assist stakeholders to make informed decisions when transporting products in order to reduce costs as well as saving time.

“During our interaction with the ecosystem through the transactions facilitating with business clients, partner drivers and logistics companies, we realised that a lot of inefficiencies that were taking place was largely because no one else was aware of what the next person was doing. People are making decisions because of their own experience not the experience of the market,” she said.

Ms Siso said going forward they would introduce a website with daily variable information according to the market movements and changes logistics’ environment. 

“This will assist businesses logistics with information including aggregate prices for transporting goods from one point to another,” she said. -@pridesinstinctz