On a sunny day in mid-2020, Malobi Ogbechie stepped off a ferry into Lagos’ Apapa port. He paced the busy port for hours, asking dockworkers the best way to ship his small batches of fonio, a nutrient-rich West African grain, by sea to save lots of on costly air freight that was consuming into his margins. Unable to afford delivery a full container, he requested round for shippers who allowed cargo sharing with different exporters—groupage, because it’s referred to as. He discovered none.
5 years later, Ogbechie is not a struggling exporter however a founder attempting to unravel this drawback with Kadan Kadan, his logistics startup, which lets small companies export their items in shared containers at a fraction of the price of air freight. Kadan Kadan now serves tens of companies, together with ReelFruit, a number one agri-tech startup identified for its dried fruit snacks.
Adolescence and schooling in England
In 2002, on the age of ten, Ogbechie landed in Somerset, England, a world away from the bustle of Port Harcourt within the Nigerian south, the place he’d spent his early years. His mother and father, seeing schooling as a gateway to financial alternative, enrolled him and his brothers in boarding faculty. “It was alright,” he recalled at Pitstop, the Lagos restaurant the place we met.
As one of many few Black college students of their faculty, Malobi and his siblings navigated a refined undercurrent of racism. “There have been little racist jokes right here and there,” he mentioned, reflecting on a UK that, within the early 2000s, felt much less inclusive than immediately. “A gaggle of Black guys couldn’t stroll right into a constructing collectively with out points.” At first, Malobi admitted, this ambiance created a “sufferer mindset,” the load of which may’ve outlined him had he not discovered to shake it off.
On the College of Bathtub, years later, he enrolled in European Research with French and German, a program that promised language fluency and a deep dive into European politics and economics. “I communicate each languages,” he mentioned. The French got here in useful in his later African travels.
It was at Bathtub that Malobi started to see Africa as a continent sidelined in world markets. After Bathtub, he pursued a grasp’s in worldwide relations at Regents College London. Malobi recalled an virtually unbearable curiosity in regards to the continent throughout principally Europe-focused courses. “I may really feel my questions made some college students and lecturers uncomfortable.”
After graduating, Ogbechie had a 3-month stint at a tech agency offering enterprise coaching options however was fired because of a mismatch in company tradition. “I needed to discover ways to slot in over time,” he recollects. He then secured a place at Panalpina, a worldwide logistics firm, as a enterprise growth supervisor for about 17 months, gaining preliminary information of air and sea freight. Following this, he continued his profession in enterprise growth roles at market analysis corporations.
Discovering fonio and returning to Nigeria
Whereas working in market analysis, Ogbechie found fonio, a small, grain native to West Africa, primarily grown in Senegal, Mali, Guinea, and Nigeria. He offered it to retailers in London; its dietary worth and African roots made it a singular product on the time.
It was only a aspect enterprise till he determined to be taught extra, he mentioned. His curiosity took him on a two-week journey throughout West Africa, by Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, the place fonio fields stretched underneath open skies. His French got here in useful within the Francophone international locations. The journey felt considerably like a transformative privilege in order that after returning to London, he give up his job and moved again to Nigeria to export the grain full-time.
Kadan Kadan: the “little by little” resolution
Ogbechie’s return coincided with COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns that swept throughout the globe in early 2020. At the same time as world logistics bottlenecks intensified, he continued to supply the grain from Nigeria and ship it to his handful of consumers through air freight. “I used to be both breaking even or making minimal revenue, simply to maintain prospects overseas completely happy,” he defined.
Annoyed by the costly freight costs, Ogbechie regarded for groupage companies—sea freight logistics enabling small-scale exporters to share container area to chop prices—however discovered no options on the port. “I used to be asking folks on the highway in the event that they knew anybody providing this service. Nobody did,” he mentioned. In hindsight, the service did exist however was largely offline and arduous to seek out organically. “There was a transparent hole. Others like me would wish this however wouldn’t know the place to seek out it.”
He continued to consider the issue, however solely took concrete steps to create a shared container service in 2022 throughout a brief agribusiness course on the Lagos Enterprise College. Tasked with pitching a enterprise thought, Ogbechie introduced three ideas: processing kenaf (a flexible West African crop), a meals export enterprise, and the shared container service, which received unanimous assist. “Everybody backed the container thought,” he mentioned.
After months of analysis and networking, he launched Kadan Kadan in 2023.
“Kadan Kadan” is a Hausa phrase meaning “little by little.”
Present operations and future plans
Its mannequin was easy: groupage, or shared containers, letting a number of companies pool items into one sea cargo. “We’re transferring cassava flour, attire, and extra abroad,” Malobi mentioned on Come up TV this month, “at 1 / 4 of air freight’s price.” Air freight to Houston prices $3,500 per ton of garri, whereas Kadan Kadan’s shared containers shipped the identical for $520, overlaying port charges.
The setup was digital, an online app that allow shoppers observe shipments, get quotes, and guide area, decreasing paperwork that slowed down operations in conventional startups. “The delivery trade isn’t very tech-enabled,” he famous, and his app aimed to alter that by providing transparency the place handbook types triggered delays. It didn’t personal ships or warehouses, conserving prices low by partnering with carriers—an asset-light method enabling scalability by extra shoppers and containers, resulting in cheaper per-ton charges.
The primary container stuffed by 80% even with none paid adverts, Ogbechie recounted. His charges undercut air delivery by two to 3 occasions. Although slower than air freight—30 versus seven days—it was best for commoditized items like garri and plantain flour. “For these merchandise, it’s essentially the most worthwhile method to export,” Ogbechie mentioned.
The startup’s preliminary progress confronted setbacks because of customs points within the UK, the place some items had been seized due to a lack of information concerning import restrictions. On one event, the startup needed to refund affected prospects as much as $10,000—a major quantity for a bootstrapped enterprise. Ogbechie defined his method: “I don’t desire a dangerous title, so I overcompensate. Or possibly it’s my British upbringing, however whereas some brokers would possibly say, ‘As soon as it leaves Nigeria, it’s not my drawback,’ I take the monetary hit to make sure buyer satisfaction.”
He says the startup has grown to know the terrain and these mishaps don’t happen anymore.
Along with groupage companies, Kadan Kadan additionally provides full-container and refrigerated choices. Shoppers embody Reel Fruit, Oma’s Chips, Igbega Farms, and different rising names in meals and agribusiness.
Ogbechie notes that his largest rivals are small, legacy companies which have been quietly providing comparable companies for many years by word-of-mouth, with out adverts or branding.
In hindsight, he realised that his preliminary obliviousness stemmed from their low on-line visibility and his unfamiliarity with Nigeria on the time. He’s attempting to make sure visibility by bodily connections at occasions and with associations, which he says have been enjoying out nicely. “After practically two years, lots of people within the meals enterprise know us,” he mentioned.
Over the subsequent 5 years, Ogbechie envisions Kadan Kadan evolving right into a complete, tech-enabled logistics ecosystem with two key divisions. Kadan Commerce will turn into a sourcing agent in Africa, facilitating connections between African suppliers in at the very least three key international locations. Concurrently, Kadan Freight, he hopes, will broaden to incorporate a fleet of at the very least ten vehicles to deal with home logistics and environment friendly transport.
For now, Ogbechie is working to verify nobody finally ends up on the port like he did 5 years in the past; unable to discover a means to affordably ship their African items to expectant prospects.
