Glovo to Make Kenya its Africa Hub for Customer Service Operations

• Glovo Introduced its Micro Fulfilment Center in Nairobi

On-demand delivery platform Glovo, on Tuesday, said it will make Kenya its regional hub for countries in Sub-Saharan Africa as a customer service centre.

Oscar Pierre, CEO and Co-founder of Glovo announced as part of Glovo’s strategic expansion in Africa and Eastern Europe in the next two years.

In Africa, the Spanish delivery start-up firm says it will be eyeing North Africa – Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. In Sub-Saharan Africa, it will launch in Nigeria, Tanzania and Senegal.

“We like Nairobi a lot,” He said, adding that from Nairobi we are going to be serving and controlling the operations in these countries. From Nairobi, we are going to have a customer service centre.” 

“Nairobi has a good culture of customer service, we found good talent and a good place to start in terms of ease of doing business and the size of Nairobi.”

Pierre disclosed that the firm is “super well funded” to enable it to invest in the next two years.

Glovo entered the African market at the end of 2018 in Morocco. It has operations in Kenya, Uganda and Cote d’Ivoire.

Glovo micro fulfilment centre in Nairobi

He spoke during the expansion of its  ‘Q-commerce’ (Quick-commerce) division by launching a micro fulfilment centre in Nairobi.

The centre will enable its consumers to use Glovo to order from their favourite supermarkets, neighbourhood stores and the Glovo Market.

“We believe that micro fulfilment centres represent an important part of the future of post-pandemic retail, and I think we will see a permanent shift to consumers buying groceries and other essential and convenience items from an app and website, rather than making such trips in person,” Pierre said.

The Glovo market will be accessible through Glovo’s app or website and closed to walk-in customers.

The Spanish delivery start-up firm launched the quick commerce delivery service in 2020. The service offers immediate delivery directly from the company’s stores.

Glovo Market uses the latest in in-store digital technology and dedicated resources to ensure the quickest possible delivery times with customers receiving their orders in 20-40 minutes.

Glovo has partnered with supermarkets such as Carrefour and Naivas, and with retail brands such as Bulkbox, Diageo, EABL, Reckitt, Heshba, Mesora, Wrigleys, Pernod Ricard, Kimberly Clark, and Farmers Choice.