Nairobi’s Eastleigh suburb is known for many things, but few would guess it’s also the birthplace of an innovation aiming to fix a problem that costs Kenya billions each year in lost productivity and commerce.
But quietly, this neighbourhood, better known for its bustling commerce and chaotic human and vehicular traffic, is now acting as a pilot zone for a digital innovation that could give every Kenyan a formal address.
Pickspot, a digital addressing startup, has chosen Eastleigh as the launchpad for its solution, one that could unlock Kenya’s e-commerce potential by enabling timeless and cheaper deliveries for goods ordered online.
The lack of formal addresses is estimated to cost Kenya billions of shillings in lost output every year, making it one of the biggest hurdles preventing the country’s e-commerce industry from reaching its full potential.
According to the Courier Industry Association of Kenya (CIAK), the absence of proper addresses leads to numerous misdeliveries annually –25 percent of parcels are never delivered, while 58 percent are delayed, often arriving only after multiple attempts.
“It’s not really okay that today, in a digital world, we still don’t have a way for the average Kenyan to be addressed. Without an address you don’t really exist online,” reckons Keynan Warsame, co-founder and CEO of Pickspot.
“It doesn’t matter how fast you can send money from one person to another. If you can’t receive goods at any time that you need to receive goods, it creates a being problem for SMEs, because they can’t expand beyond their physical reach.”
In Kenya, it is estimated that about 80 percent of the population does not have a formal home or personal address. This means that if a percel is to be delivered to them, they must either use someone else’s post office address or rely on word-of-mouth directions for the delivery agent to find them.
If they’re not home, delivery agents are often forced to return at another time—and sometimes, the delivery is botched altogether simply because the buyer had no address.
The lack of a formal address doesn’t just lock Kenyans out of buying products online; it also forces them to lie on government application forms, which often require a “home address” or a “post office address.”
Many Kenyans use the postal address of the nearest public school in their rural home area, or the closest landmark to their residence, hoping they’ll never actually need to use it.
This is not just a Kenyan problem. Across Africa, an estimated 600 million people –about half the continent’s population—are not formally addressed. Solving this problem has been painfully slow, largely hinging on government goodwill.
In an era where e-commerce has been democratised by social media platforms, having a formal address could significantly boost sales for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) –the market Pickspot is targeting.
“We think that this is one of the biggest problems holding back e-commerce, because without a fixed point for delivery, e-commerce can never scale. We haven’t really unlocked e-commerce fully on this continent, and when we do, it’ll change everything,” said Warsame.
Pickspot is trying to solve this problem by installing lockers in high-traffic social spaces in neighbourhoods across the country. These lockers can be digitally booked for deliveries, which are then picked up at the addressee’s earliest convenience.
“We are trying to build something that works for Kenya. We’re enabling people to check out with a digital address that is mapped to a locker nearest to them—and that’s the only thing you need for a delivery,” Warsame said in an interview.
“It’s a very simple checkout. It allows for direct routing to you, without any middlemen, reducing costs, and it gives you something static that doesn’t change—so you can always participate in e-commerce.”
The lockers are equipped with a smart screen, allowing delivery agents to enter a pre-sent password to open the locker and drop off the package. The recipient is then notified via text message that the package is available.
Once the owner is ready to collect it, they enter a code sent by the company to unlock the locker. Charges are based on the package size and how long it remains in the locker.
Of the lockers deployed in Eastleigh, Warsame says usage is still limited, but picking up steadily. “People are really curious, so right now we have a QR code to enable them to learn more about the company as we build on the traction.”
With six employees, Keynan and his brother Lugman Warsame are currently bootstrapping the company from their own pockets, as they work on testing and proving the concept to raise seed capital from investors.
While their solution would be the first of its kind in Kenya, the concept isn’t entirely new. The State-owned Postal Corporation of Kenya (Posta) is also planning a similar initiative, built around the traditional post offices.
“We’re looking at developing a national digital address system. We want to come up with a digital address for every Kenyan, allowing them to order and receive goods wherever they are in the country,” Posta CEO John Tonui told the Business Daily in a recent interview.
But the government’s national digital address system has been in the pipeline for years. The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) announced a plan in 2016 to build a national addressing system, but nearly a decade later, little progress has been made.
In 2021, the ICT Authority (ICTA) published the National Addressing Policy, which outlined the roadmap for rolling out digital addresses across the country. However, implementation has been slow, and the policy remains largely on paper.
The gap and thirst for the system is, however, huge and urgent.
Yusuf Hassan Abdi, the Member of the National Assembly for Kamukunji, where Eastleigh lies, describes the digital addressing system as one that “has the potential to revolutionise logistics, enhance delivery efficiency, and significantly improve access to vital services for Eastleigh residents and businesses alike.”
In a letter endorsing the rollout of digital addresses in Eastleigh, Mr Abdi said the system “promises to bridge existing gaps in addressing infrastructure, thereby fostering economic growth and expanding e-commerce opportunities within our community.”
