South African technology service company Digital Solutions Group (DSG) has announced a strategic partnership with global mobility solutions provider Sentiance in a bid to boost road safety and support the development of innovative insurance offerings in the African market. Yaron Assabi, Group CEO of DSG, says the timing of the partnership coincides with a continent-wide boom in ecommerce. “The accelerating growth in last-mile delivery vehicles due to the booming ecommerce sector across the continent has exposed a need for mobility solutions that can improve driver safety and deliver vital behavioural insights. The partnership with Sentiance enables us to provide accessible and scalable mobility insights to key markets in Africa that can keep drivers safe and provide organisations – and insurers – with vital behavioural data.”
A report by Naspers and Prosus predicts that global demand for last-mile delivery will increase by 78% by 2030. A separate study estimates that Africa’s last-mile delivery market will be worth $2.3-billion by the end of the decade.
South Africa has also experienced rapid growth in the number of delivery bikes on the country’s roads over the past few years as major retailers – including Checkers, Pick n Pay, Spar and Woolworths – ramp up their grocery deliveries. “Sentiance’s offering is ideal for two-wheelers as it leverages the driver’s mobile phone to track and measure a range of behavioural insights that can be used to ensure the safety of drivers,” says Assabi. “And since the solution is 100% fully on-device without the need for data processing in the cloud, we are able to scale this into new markets far more quickly and cost-effectively.”
Major brands globally including Beneva, Absa, Uber, and Talabat and Hunger Station from the Delivery Hero group use Sentiance’s solution to improve driver safety and enhance insurance offerings.
Delivery Hero – a leading global last-mile delivery provider – has mentioned a more than significant reduction in incidents in the regions where they have implemented their comprehensive safety solution including 2-wheeler telematics.
Assabi says Sentiance’s solution is already gaining traction in South Africa. Absa, one of South Africa’s largest insurance companies, is using Sentiance’s Usage-Based Insurance (UBI) program to gain insights into driver behavior and risk factors, leading to a significant +8% improvement in their loss ratio.
Speaking of the partnership, Toon Vanparys, CEO at Sentiance, says: “We are excited to join forces with DSG to bring our cutting-edge mobility solutions to new markets in Africa. DSG’s extensive network and experience with delivering mobile solutions will be invaluable as we aim to transform how companies in Africa utilise mobility data to improve road safety, enhance customer experiences, and drive business growth.”
