Courier service providers to work with government to develop NAS

 

Courier service providers in the country have committed to work together with the Senate to ensure the National Addressing System comes into play, in the wake of rising service delivery.

Representatives from the firms such as Uber, Bolt, Glovo, Sendy yesterday during a virtual meeting with the Senate Standing Committee on IT said they were ready to work together with the government so as to see this system come to life.

“We are ready to work with the government to see this system come into existence as it will also make business easier for us,” said Priscilla Muhiu,General Manger Glovo Kenya.

E-commerce platforms have made life easy for people during this Covid-19 period with the lockdown put in place in the country and the stay at home directive.

This even saw some of them innovate new products tom make life easier for their consumers.

Taxi hailing service,Bolt launched Bolt Business Delivery Service during this period to help people in logistics in moving goods from on point to another.

The firm also launched a food delivery service in targeting alternative revenue streams.

“We have witnessed increased deliveries and cashless payments on our platform and this motivates us to be more innovative to offer new products to our customers,” said Ola Akinusi, Country Manager, Bolt Kenya.

In 2016, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) started the process to have a nation-wide numbering and addressing system to boost the uptake of e-commerce and improve service delivery.

This is a framework that provides for, among others, the naming/numbering of streets and/properties and coding to facilitate easy identification and location of such places on the ground.

According to the Courier Industry Association of Kenya (CIAK), the absence of an efficient numbering system has presented numerous challenge especially in the delivery of good and services in Kenya.

According to the ICT Ministry, the government is now in the final stages of developing NAS.

Kenya was among the top five African performers in the UNCTAD B2C e-commerce index 2019.

The country’s 2019 Digital Economy Blueprint outlines the government’s commitment to using disruptive technology to help it leapfrog.

To turn the blueprint into action, the Communications Authority of Kenya requested UNCTAD to help it formulate a national e-commerce strategy. This will include an action plan with recommendations for targeted policy interventions.