The Tech Vantage

The Spark | Ignite / Connect / Achieve
www . the sparkng.co m
Cold-chain
Tech
Solving logistics is a key part
of the puzzle
By Oghenetega Iortim
The Man Himself
I
’d describe myself as a reserved but
highly observant person who has always
had an eye for business. I recall
in primary school when I would use my
pocket money to buy small chocolate
bars and sell to my classmates during
class breaks. This business acumen developed
and constantly evolved leading
me to try my hands on multiple business
ventures; from simple trading with
friends to building solutions to global
problems.
The Beginning
I started GRICD in 2017. Prior to that, I
got involved in Agriculture where we
crowd sourced funds to enable farming
operations. We experienced a lot of losses
upon harvest due to knowledge gaps
challenges inspired me to think of and
design a solution that could help prolong
the useful life of harvested produce and
consequently reduce farmers’ losses. In
attempting to solve this problem, we developed
a solution, which turned out to
be replicable across diverse verticals including
health.
We bootstrapped all through 2017 into
mid-2018 and fortunately, we got into
the FBStart program sponsored by
Facebook, where we were able to raise
funds to develop/build the first phase of
our actual product.
Our product has gained a lot of acceptance
in the market since we launched it
and achieved popularity with members
of the healthcare community/public. We
have held exhibitions/showcases at various
programs including Access Bank
Disrupt 2019 where we got very engaging
and positive feedback from the community.
GRICD and the Economy
GRICD is a cold chain technology com-
-
omous cold chain solutions for storage
and logistics in Healthcare and Agriculture.
We are a hardware startup that
prides in building our solution in Nigeria.
it’s the right way to go to foster technological
growth.
According to FIIRO, Nigerian farmers
lose more than 50% of their produce annually.
So, almost half of the total revenue
to be earned on produce is lost due
to the absence of good storage facilities.
GRICD aims to bridge that lacuna and
help preserve and increase the revenue
of those in the agro supply chain. Given
that agriculture still accounts for a huge
proportion of informal employment especially
among rural populations, any
solution that helps save close to 50% of
farmers’ revenue is surely a welcome development
for the economy.
Staying Relevant
I would give a lot of credit to my team for
consistent innovation. In recent months,
my primary focus has been strategy and
business development. My team members,
Godwin (Embedded Systems
Engineering Lead ) and Simi (Software
Product Lead) have played vital roles
in continuous innovation. They are very
passionate about solutions and always
come up with new and plausible ideas.
Most times, I listen to their recommendations
on what’s possible based on user
experience, economic value and milestones
timelines.
Global Competitiveness
Nigerian tech entrepreneurs are already
competitors on the global scene and
we have seen this through the number
of acquisitions that have taken place in
the last 5 years. Last year alone, acquisition
transactions worth $178 million
took place and it is evident that our in-
digenously grown solutions are not just
solving local challenges but are also
becoming increasingly accepted on a
global scale.
Lessons Learnt
Building a business as a young entrepreneur
makes you susceptible to a lot
of mistakes, especially in this clime and
with all the structural challenges that exist
within the ecosystem. Mistakes in hiring
and people management were made
in the early years of starting out but, as
with growing pains, they helped to teach
lessons, to refine and reshape our business
strategy as it relates to hiring, mo-
Feedback
The feedback from our clients has been
great. Their opinions serve as a resource
to improve customer experience. More
often than not, we ask for customer
feedback to know what the customer
thinks about our product and how we
can improve on our service, which enables
us to stay ahead in our industry.
Role Model
I consider Femi Adeyemo, CEO of Arnergy
as a role model. I am impressed by
his discipline, incredible work ethic, tech
savviness, continuous innovation and
his commitment to ensuring profitable
bottom lines and not just fundraising.
They recently concluded their Series A
funding last month where they raised $9
million. He’s definitely someone that in-
Unwinding
“We are a hardware
startup that prides in
building our solution in
Nigeria.”
Building GRICD is taking up all my time
at the moment but hopefully when we
achieve some important milestones, I
should pick up on my writing.
32 @the
sp
ark
ng