Tema facility will serve as Ghana hub for Africa e-commerce leader

ACCRA, Ghana – October, 30th 2024 – Jumia, the leading Africa e-commerce platform, has chosen the state-of-the-art Agility Logistics Park (ALP) in Tema, Ghana, to be its new nationwide fulfilment operations centre for Ghana.

Jumia will occupy 6,000 SQM of warehousing at the park, using the facility for storage, fulfilment and office space under a 10-year lease agreement with ALP. The facility will hold a wide range of products and be used to process orders and ship deliveries to consumers across Ghana.

“We chose the Agility Logistics Park in Tema because its strategic location will help ensure rapid, efficient delivery of products throughout Ghana. Increased quality storage capacity at the new facility will enable us to improve efficiency in managing our growing product range, allowing us to better meet the expectations of Ghanaian customers,” said Temidayo Ojo, CEO Jumia Ghana.

Jumia is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and operates in 11 African countries. Its marketplace connects sellers to consumers with logistics services that enable shipment and delivery of packages. The platform offers goods across a broad range of categories, including phones and electronics, home appliances, fast-moving consumer goods, fashion and beauty products. The company’s JumiaPay solution facilitates online payment transactions.

The Agility Logistics Park – Ghana is minutes from Tema Port, one of West Africa’s largest. ALP offers the country’s most modern warehousing and infrastructure, and best facilities management, security, versatility and leasing terms. ALP Ghana serves as a storage, distribution, assembly and processing hub for multinationals, regional leaders and local brands in consumer goods, retail, equipment, automotive, energy, mining, agri-business and other sectors. The park includes a training facility, as well as sustainability features that reduce waste and lower energy and water consumption.

Geoffrey White, CEO Agility Africa, said: “We are delighted that Jumia chose to make the Agility Global warehouse park in Tema its new home in Ghana. The location, modern infrastructure and services at ALP Ghana make it ideal for e-commerce operations. We’re confident that quality warehousing can assist Jumia to accelerate its growth and meet the demands of Ghana’s rapidly expanding online shopping market.”

Offers faster deliveries, better access to western parts of Saudi Arabia

RIYADH – Shipa Delivery, a leader in on-demand, first-mile and last-mile deliveries across the GCC, announced that it will add a Jeddah e-commerce gateway to its two existing Saudi gateways in Riyadh and Dammam, reducing delivery times for both inbound and outbound shipments.

The Jeddah gateway will expand international merchants’ access to the fast-growing Saudi market, enhancing customer experience with quicker deliveries. It will offer increased capacity during peak periods and reduce emissions for deliveries to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea corridor and western portions of the Kingdom.

Shipa Delivery announced the opening of the Jeddah gateway Sunday at the Global Logistics Forum in Riyadh, alongside its parent company, Agility, a supply chain services, infrastructure and innovation company with more than two decades of investment and operational experience in Saudi Arabia.

Shipa Delivery’s footprint in the Kingdom includes more than 18 hubs and 500+ delivery vehicles. The company’s proprietary technology platform gives shippers full tracking and visibility, and offers them a one-stop shop to manage clearance, fulfilment, deliveries, reverse logistics and other functions.

The new Jeddah gateway will open in January and cut 12 to 24 hours from delivery times in the western part of the Kingdom.

“The Jeddah gateway will make our e-commerce clients more competitive by shortening delivery times. It allows us to expand our capacity in the Kingdom by up to 15%, relieving constraints that arise during peak periods, and it allows us to introduce more routes to more delivery destinations within Saudi Arabia,” said Shipa Delivery CEO Borhene Ben Mena.

The Saudi e-commerce market, largest in the Middle East, is one of the fastest-growing in the world. It is growing at an annual rate of 13.5% vs. the sector’s global growth rate of 11.2%, according to Economy Middle East.

Project will add 100K SQM to Kingdom’s most advanced warehousing complex

RIYADH – Oct. 13, 2024 – Agility, a global leader in supply chain services, infrastructure and innovation, announced plans for the final phase of expansion at the Agility Logistics Parks (ALP) warehousing complex in Riyadh.

The expansion project represents an investment of 250 million SAR and will add 100,000 SQM of Class A warehousing to the complex, taking the total available 551,368 SQM. The first phase of the expansion will be ready and operating in Q1 2025. It is expected to create 300 new jobs for Saudis.

ALP developed and operates state-of-the-art warehousing complexes in Riyadh and Dammam. The company is investing more than 611 million SAR to build a third ALP complex, near Jeddah.

Michel Saab, global CEO of Agility Logistics Parks, said the help and collaboration of the Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC), the Ministry of Investment (MISA), and the Riyadh region municipality were vital to the launch of the ALP expansion in Riyadh.

“ALP’s expansion in Riyadh is not just about increasing our operational capacity,” Saab said. “It represents a substantial contribution to the growth of the logistics market in Saudi Arabia and will allow international companies to invest in their growth in the Kingdom. By building world-class warehousing, we are able to provide critical infrastructure that is helping to make the Kingdom a global and regional logistics hub.”

ALP offers some of Saudi Arabia’s most modern, sustainable warehousing. Its Riyadh Logistics Park is home to storage, distribution, processing and fulfillment operations of some of the country’s leading consumer, industrial and e-commerce brands. In 2022, a warehouse at the Riyadh park became the first building in the Kingdom and the first warehouse in the GCC to receive EDGE Advanced certification.

EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) is the global standard for energy-efficient buildings, a certification system overseen by the International Finance Corp. (IFC), an arm of the World Bank. EDGE Advanced buildings are “zero-carbon ready” structures that are at least 40% more energy efficient than others in the market.

Parties agree to study need for new freight and logistics infrastructure near Riyadh

RIYADH – OCT. 13, 2024 – Agility, a supply chain services, infrastructure and innovation company, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Railway Company (SAR) today to look at requirements for inter-modal storage, transportation and processing facilities near Sudair City for Industry and Businesses and near King Khalid International Airport.

Under its Vision 2030 national strategy, Saudi Arabia has set out to establish itself as a global hub for logistics and trade through massive investment in the modernization and expansion of its logistics and transportation infrastructure.

“Saudi Arabia is rapidly moving toward achieving its goal to be one of the world’s most important centers of trade, transportation and logistics,” said Agility Vice Chairman Tarek Sultan. “Agility has been a long-time supporter, partner and investor in the Saudi logistics sector. We have decades of experience here, and we’ve built some of the Kingdom’s most advanced logistics infrastructure. We see a future where Saudi and the region lead the world’s supply chain sector. We thank SAR for giving us the opportunity to be part of this future and the opportunity to contribute to Saudi’s growth and success story”

Agility has been investing in Saudi Arabia for two decades. Its Agility Logistics Parks (ALP) business developed and operates world-class logistics parks and warehousing facilities in Riyadh and Dammam. A third large ALP complex is under construction in Jeddah. Agility’s Riyadh Logistics Park includes “green” buildings that are the first EDGE Advanced-certified warehousing in the GCC.

Other Agility businesses serve Saudi Arabia’s energy, aviation and e-commerce sectors. The company’s corporate venture arm is an investor in Saudi startups in e-commerce and digital freight matching for the trucking industry.

Last year, Agility signed an MOU with the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia (MISA) to strengthen the Saudi healthcare sector by expanding digital health services, localizing the medical technology supply chain, and promoting the transfer of critical supply chain and healthcare knowledge through new services, technology, investment and jobs.

Agility also is one of the largest shareholders in DSV, a global logistics provider and key logistics partner of NEOM, the ultra-modern, smart mega-city project near the Red Sea in the northwest part of the Kingdom.

UAE-based VC fund targets region’s promising startups, entrepreneurs

ABU DHABI  – OCT. 2, 2024 – Agility Global, a multi-business operator and long-term investor, said its corporate venture capital arm will invest in a new fund aimed at providing capital to early-stage Middle East and Africa companies.

The new fund is managed by Global Ventures, a Dubai-based investment firm that specializes in growth-stage emerging markets investing in MEA.

Through its venture capital arm, Agility Global has built a portfolio of investments that includes stakes in clean energy, digital logistics, e-commerce, healthcare and agri-tech startups. Its portfolio includes companies that are MEA-based or pursuing market opportunities and expansion in the region.

Agility Global has backed efforts to strengthen the MEA’s entrepreneurial ecosystems and provided resources and expertise to early-stage companies developing go-to-market strategies.

“We are passionate champions and advocates for businesses led by the region’s new generation of entrepreneurs and innovators,” said Agility Global Chairman Tarek Sultan. “The Middle East and Africa are brimming with innovation and entrepreneurial energy. Through our venture capital arm, Agility Ventures, and our investment in Global Ventures’ new MEA fund, we are encouraging the region’s startups and entrepreneurs to commercialize and scale great ideas and innovations.”

Sultan said: “We’re conscious that only about 15% of all VC ‘cheque-writers’ are women, and we’re excited to be backing a women-led fund in the region. We hope that as the ventures ecosystem in the region continues to grow, it will create new opportunities for a range of stakeholders, including women-led businesses, and we’re committed to being part of growing that broader ecosystem.”

Noor Sweid, Founder and Managing Partner at Global Ventures, said: “Anticipating a shift towards resource efficiency in sectors such as supply chain, our new fund, Fund III, is strategically aligned with industries poised for technological transformation in emerging markets over the next decade. With our focus on supply chain technology, we are incredibly grateful for the support of Agility Global, a long-standing leader in the supply chain sector regionally and globally. We are thrilled to have a true partner in Agility Global as we continue to back mission-driven founders addressing critical challenges across the Middle East and Africa.”

Global Ventures manages three funds, all of which target innovation companies in the Middle East and Africa. Agility Global will invest in Global Ventures’ third fund, which was established earlier this year to provide capital to startups innovating in the areas of supply chain technology, energy technology, and agri-tech.

Global Ventures’ first fund, launched in 2018, has a thematic focus on fintech. The firm established a second fund in 2022 to focus on investments in health tech and digital health innovation.