This article originally appeared in the May/June issue of Startups Magazine. Click here to subscribe

Yet, without such transportation in place, how can everything around it be expected to develop? After all, historians view the creation of the wheel a pivotal point of humanity’s progression. Being the poorer part of the world, f inding a way to expedite this could bring untold benefits.

Addressing these challenges is OX Delivers, a forward-thinking startup led by Co-founder and CEO Simon Davis. Through its innovative transport-as-a-service model, OX Delivers aims to revolutionise how goods are moved across this socioeconomic region and empower entrepreneurs who are seeking to develop economies through their ideas.

From automotive design to entrepreneurial vision

Simon Davis’s professional background is deeply rooted in automotive engineering and strategic development, having honed his skills at Jaguar Land Rover. There, he was involved in designing chassis components. “I cut my teeth from a working perspective at Jaguar Land Rover, working on chassis, designing components, getting an insight into how components are made and how cars get put together,” Davis told Startups Magazine. “After a few years, I moved into the strategy space, looking at the front end of programmes which is about five years out from production.” His work contributed to various nameplates, including the Range Rover and Defender.

“From there, I transitioned into digital development to redefine and build a new Bill of Material System,” Davis explained. During his time in the role, he led an internal DevOps team to build a system which was 70% faster than its predecessor, a system that is still in place today. Yet, having achieved a lot in his respective industry, Davis decided he wanted a new challenge: “I knew I wanted and needed something more from my career – more flexibility, more impact and more opportunity to let my entrepreneurial ideas fly!”

With his experience in traditional automotive roles, Davis saw an opportunity to impact the transport sector more significantly.

“Philanthropist Sir Torquil Norman and F1 vehicle designer Gordon Murray had been working together to design a truck in response to the lack of suitable vehicles for Africa,” Davis said.

“When I met them, they’d developed an awesome truck concept and they had talked to all the major automotive OEMs to take it to market, but none were interested.”

Yet, as Davis would explain, he couldn't get the idea out of his head. So, he left Jaguar Land Rover to pursue the idea, leading to the inception of OX Delivers.

Ox Delivers: a novel approach to mobility

OX Delivers provides transport-as-a-service - meaning customers pay only for the transport service they need. In short, think of it like an Uber for truck transportation. Customers pay for space on a truck on a kilogram-per-kilometre basis, so they only use what they need. All of this can be managed via an app or toll-free number.

“This concept is not currently available in a formalised way across much of Africa and elsewhere in the Global South,” said Davis. This model enables a lower the price of motorised transport from $1,000s to buy a truck or $100s to rent, down to less than $1 to transport a sack of goods.

The World Bank estimates that around 450 million people in Africa – or more than 70% of its total rural population – are estimated to have been left unconnected due to missing transport infrastructure and systems. “These millions of people represent a huge, untapped market and I believe OX Delivers is going to open it right up,” explains Davis.

The vehicles that these packages are transported on is a EV series that was the world’s first purpose-designed electric truck for the Global South. EVs, Davis says “are perfect for Africa” . “OX Delivers’ EVs are 10X cheaper to run than traditional trucks and are low maintenance, just what is required for Africa.” No mains power? No problem! The trucks are able to use energy harvested via solar energy. This not only helps reliability of the trucks operating in less built-up areas, but Davis says “will help electricity suppliers to expand their grids,” meaning each OX Delivers hub will help to lead to electrification of many rural areas.

Expanding reach and overcoming challenges

As you can see, OX Delivers has ambitious plans for the future. Its strategy includes refining the OX truck design based on operational feedback and expanding its geographic footprint. "Each time we move into a new phase, it feels like there’s a mountain ahead of us, but before I know it, we’re right in the thick of it and I’m loving it,” explains Davis.

Although as Davis explains, “the post-Covid economic gloom has hit Africa the hardest, with equity funding raised by the region down 47% for Q1 2024, as opposed to 2023,” he stresses how he sees that the continent has a huge potential.

As such, the company’s immediate focus is on deepening its impact in Rwanda before scaling to other countries in the Global South. Currently, OX Delivers has around 35 people in the UK, and around 75 in Rwanda, with the UK staff mostly focused on developing the next-gen of the truck, and working with colleagues in Rwanda to understand the needs.

OX Delivers stands at the forefront of a transport revolution, one that not only promises to transform the logistics landscape of the Global South but also to catalyse socio-economic development across the region. Its future will depend on a number of factors, such as its ability to scale its operations, technology, and mature its transport-as-a-service in the market. But having seen great success already, one is sure they will arrive at their end goal if they just keep on trucking.