The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has given notice to revoke the International Courier Operator Licence held by Sendy Limited after the company applied to the regulator. The notice says the revocation will be done within seven days from the date of the notice.
The notice in last Friday’s gazette notice shows the publication date as 30th August. It read in part that any public or county, authority, company, person who has objections to the revocation to do so through a letter to the Director General, Francis Wangusi.
Sendy is a a motorcycle on-demand delivery service based in Nairobi. They provide logistical support (full truck hires and motocycles/tuk-tuks) and business through their application.
Founded in 2014, it was Kenya’s first on-demand-delivery service. Using the Sendy app, users log in to command a pick up or a delivery service. Like Uber, Sendy earns a fraction of the fees charged for deliveries or pickups. According to the company, riders are assured of more than five orders a day each.
Alloys Meshack, the CEO and co-founder explained that they had earlier been registered as a courier company but they did not offer courier services. He added that it is them who applied for their license to be revoked. Essentially, they are not also using the license hence their application to the regulator.
“We do not operate a warehouse or own trucks or motor vehicles. We are simply a technology company who leverage on motorcycles to help deliver goods from one person to another”, he asserted.
He was emphatic that they operate like taxi-haling services taking a partnership model. Some of their biggest clients include hospitals, restaurants, laundromats and retailers among others.
According to a letter sent to CA’s Director for Licensing Compliance and Standards, Sendy says the technology they offer is intended to be used for logistics providers and care hire providers across Kenya. “We do not therefore deal with collection, dispatch, conveyance, handling and delivery of postal articles as envisaged under the Kenya Information and Communications Act and do not quality to be a license for the courier service providers license…”, reads the letter.
