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M-Post uptake signals revival of postal services in Kenya

Kenya , 28 Apr 2020
Increased adoption of mobile-based postal service M-Post reflects digital evolution of postal services in Kenya.
Increased adoption of mobile-based postal service M-Post reflects digital evolution of postal services in Kenya.

In 2019 the Postal Corporation of Kenya adopted the mobile-based postal service M-Post to address a decline in physical post deliveries.

Experts believe the service, launched in 2016, and increase in digital post boxes reflects the reinvention of postal services in Africa.

Abdul Aziz Omar, the founder and CEO of TAZ Technologies, the company behind M-Post, said his innovation came about after he lost out on an employment opportunity due to a mix up at the post office.

“I had applied for a government job but I did not receive any response from them. Since our family shared one post box, I had to travel and get the key from my aunt, kilometres away. When I finally got to the post office, I found a letter from the government offering me the job, but it had lapsed by three months.”

According to TAZ Technologies, in the four years since the launch of the service, 231,000 digital boxes have opened across Kenya.

Omar said: “Almost 53 per cent of our clients are the youth.They are the ones who can easily adapt to technology.”

He added that the company has facilitated over 200,000 deliveries, which are mostly orders from the Alibaba e-commerce site, signalling the growing e-commerce sector in the country.

Omar believes the digital post office is the future that will support mail and parcel deliveries in Africa.

According to the UPU (Universal Postal Union) Digital Survey of 2017, more postal services providers acknowledge the role of technology.

"The trend suggests that regional posts have understood the positive impact of new technology and are increasingly moving towards adoptions to improve their postal e-service operations," the report stated.

However, access to these technologies was cited as a major hindrance in Africa.

"Limited resources and lack of IT infrastructure are the most frequently cited obstacles to the growth of digital postal services," it added.

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