Ghanaian food delivery startup Koliko has unveiled plans to expand across the country after witnessing a significant leap in user subscription since it kicked off full operations.
Koliko was founded by Osborn Amankwah and Julius Asante upon graduation from the university, it then was beta-tested between September 2019 and January 2020, and then opened in February 2020.
As a food delivery platform, the startup gives users the chance to choose what they want to eat by providing a mobile app that shows a curated menu from local restaurants and food vendors.
It also assists users in picking healthy meals by showcasing nutritional information about meals on the platform, which is what spurred the Co-Founders to come up with the idea for the platform as undergraduates, upon realizing how dissatisfying the food delivery system in the country was.
“Our aim is to help people satisfy their cravings by connecting them to restaurants and food vendors in their locality. In doing so we are empowering small restaurants and food vendors in increasing their revenue by giving them access to a greater number of customers…”
“Market research we conducted showed the average young professional spends about 10 hours at work having little time to cook their own meals, and therefore orders takeout, but they have little or no control over how healthy their meals are.”
“Competitors already in the space do not help users to pick meals that are healthy and meet their nutritional needs. Moreover, most of the available platforms focus only on high-end restaurants, leaving out the small restaurants and local food vendors.”
Asante had to say.
The strong uptake of Koliko’s solutions has keenly addressed these key issues. So far it can boast of nearly 1,000 users who have processed over 6,000 orders.
The response from the platform’s users so far appears positive especially with the fact that it has thus far only launched in Sunyani, a city in western Ghana that barely has a population of up to 75,000 from the last count.
Koliko targeted tertiary students and young professionals in Sunyani because there was a large market and little competition within there, which afforded it a potential niche spot place to start and test its proof of concept. It also intends to expand to Kumasi, Accra, and Tamale in Ghana, and Nigeria, and Kenya in the long run.
The startup charges a delivery fee and a commission on orders. It has taken on some capital from the Tony Elumelu Foundation, which funded its float to date but still harbors the plans of seeking more funding for it to scale and achieve its vision.
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