Standard Bank is excited to announce that Tripplo, a Founders Factory Africa (FFA) venture, has been named by Fast Company South Africa as the country’s most innovative company for 2021. The business, which is only in its third year of existence, went up against well-known brands that were also nominated and made it to the list of top 25 most innovative for 2021.
In 2018, Standard Bank entered a five-year strategic partnership with tech start-up accelerator FFA to develop home-grown African start-ups. Tripplo was borne out of the incubator programme in 2019 with the vision to create a new standard for African road freight logistics by re-imagining the movement of cargo in a safe and efficient manner.
Intra-Africa trade remains low in comparison to its global counterparts due to poor transport infrastructure and the considerable amount of time and costs to move across borders, despite the African Free Trade Continental Area.
In recognition of the challenges facing the logistics sector, Standard Bank and FFA provided the support necessary to develop the Tripplo concept into a business. Now, Tripplo provides a digital logistics platform that facilitates the movement of road freight cargo across the South African Development Community by optimising and automating operations for small transporters.
“As one of the first businesses to be developed out of our partnership with FFA, which started simply as a one-pager concept, we could not be more pleased with Tripplo’s recent recognition by Fast Company,” says Derick De Vries, Head Fleet Management, at Standard Bank. “This young business has not only grown in the pandemic environment, which, in the initial stages, weighed heavily on the transport and logistics sector, but has also proved that its capabilities are on par with the best and biggest in the country.”
Since 2008, Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies has been the definitive source for recognising the organisations that are transforming industries and shaping societies. This year, Tripplo was up against some of the biggest companies in South Africa that are well-funded household brands. De Vries says that for Tripplo to out-compete these rivals amid Covid-19 is nothing short of “exemplary”.
When South Africa entered a nationwide lockdown in March last year to contain the Covid-19, Tripplo’s operations were reduced to the bare minimum. “The business was forced to pivot during this time, and Standard Bank collaborated with Tripplo to provide expertise and knowledge by enabling access to key stakeholders internally. Further, several product integrations were secured across Standard Bank which are now offered through the Tripplo platform.”
Through their partnership with Standard Bank, Tripplo has built a platform that incorporates multiple Application Programme Interface (API) integrations across Standard Bank’s financial services products. This includes FX eMarket Trader, Instant Money, Goods in Transit through Standard Bank insurance and Telematics Device Referral with Standard Bank fleet.
Tripplo’s robust architecture allows other complementary businesses to easily integrate into and offer their solutions to Tripplo customers on the platform. This is in-line with Standard Bank’s broader strategy of becoming a platform organisation.
Says Victor Chaitezvi of Tripplo: “We are honoured to feature among Fast Company South Africa’s top 25 most innovative companies for 2021. This recognition could not have been achieved without the support of Standard Bank, who has enabled the growth of our business by positioning us as partners.
We are truly excited about how our technology innovation in the logistics sphere will create centuries-long impact on the African continent.” Looking ahead, Tripplo plans to use its recent fundraising from Digital Africa Ventures, a SA-based venture capital firm to increase their market share, focus on SADC expansion, expand their customer value proposition and services, and prepare for a Series A fund raise