Addressing the Unaddressed in Nigeria

Linked to the lack of IDs is the lack of addresses. One of the major challenges for ecommerce in Africa is the lack of addresses. Jumia reported that up to 30% of all deliveries were returned due to the lack of proper addresses in some of its markets. Even in countries with post codes, like SA, the code is usually not granular enough to pin-point delivery, but in other countries, the problem is far worse. A Kenyan startup, OkHi,  has linked to the Nigerian Interswitch Group to develop technology that enables any business to collect an accurate address from their customer, verify it, and navigate to it. In Nigeria the lack of addressing costs Nigerian businesses an estimated US$2 billion a year. Last-mile delivery businesses call their customers more than 3 times on average to find their doors. Banks must send agents to verify prospective customer addresses – limiting access to financial services. Emergency services get lost, leading to lost lives.