Zimbabwe’s Thumeza Announces SADC Expansion Plans

Zimbabwe’s Thumeza providing small-scale transporters with immediately accessible working capital has announced it plans to expand across the SADC region after impressive early growth and the validation of being accepted into two major accelerator programmes.

Thumeza was founded in 2018 by Gugulethu Siso, the startup provided peer-to-peer logistics startup, with a vision of being the logistics backbone for e-commerce and has now developed into a B2B freight-centric platform.

Gugulethu Siso speaking on the expansion said that the firm’s ability to relate to small scale transporters led to its growth adding that the use  of operational data helps the startup connect with transporters.

“We have learned valuable lessons along the way with one element remaining the same – our ability to relate to small scale transporters.

“This has led us to where we are today. By using operational data collected from on- and off-platform activities, we connect the transporters to financiers and service providers. This ensures they can confidently meet the demand for loads to be moved by both contract and spot cargo clients as well as other operational needs” Siso said.

Siso has a strong track record, having previously co-founded and exited a VC funded startup in Namibia providing B2B services for retailers such as Pick n Pay Namibia, Shoprite Checkers Namibia, and Woolworths, to name just a few.

After research and successful test-runs, Thumeza decided to focus the bulk of its attention on providing a solution to inaccessible working capital facilities for small scale transporters.

“We have had overwhelming interest from our target users, with signups growing by 12 per cent week-on-week. This has provided us with other potential add-on services to complement our core offering as we grow.

“Our immediate goals are to expand across the SADC region to take advantage of traffic going through Kazungula as well as the active transporter demographic within those key markets.

“We are post-revenue having generated revenue at every stage of our business models” said Siso.

The startup is currently testing in Zimbabwe as part of its expansion process.