‘How Nigerian businesses can collaborate through e-hailing’

As the world continues to struggle with global coronavirus pandemic, the need for businesses to collaborate and generate revenue is essential, an e-hailing expert, Femi Akin-Laguda has stressed.

According to him, businesses need to provide innovative solutions to assist the micro-economy workforce to continue generating revenue safely during the lockdown.

“Being agile and identifying ways that businesses can work together is key to our economy’s survival through this crisis,” he said.

Akin-Laguda who doubles as the Country Manager for Bolt in Nigeria spoke at the introduction of the firm’s business delivery service, which works by connecting businesses with couriers on the Bolt platform and allows vendors to place orders online to deliver products to their customers affordably within the same day or even hour.

The service, which is currently running in Lagos and Abuja has a simple, easy-to-use web interface. Vendors are able to upload deliveries in batches via CSV or can enter them manually using a simple form. Orders can be set to be picked up immediately or scheduled to be collected within 48 hours.

“We have launched Bolt Business Delivery with two key goals in mind: to make sure that drivers on the Bolt platform can continue to earn a living safely, and to help businesses selling the essential products defined by the lockdown regulations to get orders to their customers quickly and safely,” explains Akin-Lakuda.

When adding orders, vendors will receive a price estimate. Once they confirm request delivery, Bolt will dispatch a courier to collect the order at the specified time.

The real-time tracking features ensure that both vendors and customers are fully updated on the progress of the order. Vendors will receive a live status update on the web app and the end-customer will get an SMS notification that their delivery is on the way, the estimated time of arrival and the courier’s contact details.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, contactless delivery is mandatory for all Bolt Business Delivery orders to help prevent the spread of the virus from person to person.

The vendors will have to specify a location in the app where the courier can leave the package and they will never be in direct contact with the receiver. The same applies to restaurant pickups, where the couriers do not come into direct contact with the restaurant staff.

Businesses can register via an online form or contact Bolt at ng-delivery@bolt.eu.