Daaqi – A one-stop solution logistical rescue

Daaqi, – the direct Nepali translation of PostMan – the name, had surfaced a few years back as the possible name for a logistic company which would soon be called with that name. Daaqi, a logistic based company, was the brainchild of Clock b, an entrepreneurship-centric growth facilitator, and was established with the aim to decrease the hassle of logistics for startups and corporate houses. The business formally started with facilitating the mobility of office supplies and now works as a one-stop logistics solution for enterprises.

From the start

Bijendra Shah, the co-founders and CEO of Daaqi recalls that while working for Clock b a few years back, the core team had generated a program that was focused to transform the intrapreneurs working within the team to become entrepreneurs themselves. Clock b had been working with various startups for more than a couple of years and had an exposure to a plethora of realized and unrealized ideas from the market; it didn’t take long for them to understand that in spite of floating ideas, aspiring teams lacked the know-how of execution. Among the many aspects of execution, planned mobility of recourses was a major problem – startups were struggling to aggregate their office supplies. Clock b figured out that a solution could be catered by opening a company that takes care of all the logistical hassle for a startup, from purchasing the office supplies to setting up the office. With this solution-centric aim, Daaqi was visioned in 2017 and founded in 2018. It now delivers logistics solutions in four areas– electrical supplies, stationeries, computer items and furniture. The company has served more than 25 clients as of today, mostly startups and SMEs – including hotels and hospitals.

Capital and Challenges – The new men and the C’s

Daaqi started as a lean startup with the investment from four parties- Clock b, Bijendra Shah and his two close acquaintances. “It was easier to acquire initial investment from networks and peers than to look for external agents”, says Bijendra. While initially starting the company, Daaqi had quite a tough time building a reliable team – relaying the concept of logistics and e-commerce-delivery was harder than they thought, which had eventually resulted in early employee retention. Apart from retaining human resource, the company also had a difficult time finding clients – companies would usually stall them after the cold calling. Bijendra further added, “Maintaining a constant working capital was challenging too since we provided services to our clients on credit but our vendors were to be paid immediately. We still struggle to manage the working capital at times”. Despite having had faced many challenges, Daaqi assures that the team is relentlessly working to solve each hurdle, one at a time.

Why Logistics?

Although a plethora of logistics companies have mushroomed in the valley, most of the startups that cater in deliverables haven’t really utilized their services; most of the local startups like Foodmario, Urban Girl, metroTarkari, SastoDeal all have an in-house logistic department. “Logistic companies usually cost cheaper than procuring an in-house logistic team. Sometimes startups are also concerned about the capacity and quality of outsourced logistics, which, frankly, is understandable. However, the market needs to understand that logistic companies have evolved over time to become better at handling customers and providing a smoother service. For example, in our company, immense priority is given over quality customer-service and we make sure that our logistic staff is trained well enough to deliver in time and communicate well,” elaborates Shah.

H & M – Healthy Competition and Marketing

Daaqi plans to collaborate with more events and conduct BTL marketing schemes in the near future. They haven’t had to invest a lot in marketing till now as most of their clients have been secured from word-of-mouth and networking. Their marketing plans for 2019 are not just Kathmandu- centric but they plan to reach out to potential clients outside of the valley too. “We want to make our social media page more active and bring in more customers through sharing everything we have worked on,” says Shah. Although their ultimate plan is to cover the whole of Nepal, they are taking small steps now and concentrating on one department at a time. For now, Daaqi is targeting to gain the e-commerce market; the potential for logistics company in the e-commerce sector has never been as high as of now.  Shah elaborates, “The scope and demand for logistic services are still extremely high in Nepal. Tootle and Pathao recently filled the gap of the mobility logistic; e-commerce logistic has a bigger market with an increasing population shifting their purchases online. However, we are still in the habit-cultivation phase where people are yet to adapt fully to e-commerce; many still want the ‘touch and feel’ aspect of purchase. The more new businesses cater to proven innovation, the more people will adapt their behaviour accordingly. I whole-heartedly welcome new competitors in the market as it will not only fuel change but will make the industry better with healthy competition; we need more people to fetch and deliver stuff.”

Skill Sharing

A few months back, every once a week, Daaqi had initiated a workshop-like-event called Skill Share where aspiring and new startups would be invited and informed about the basics of the startup ecosystem in Nepal. The event ranged from talking about networking, research and finances, which proved to be pretty productive for the attendees. It also acted as a marketing platform for Daaqi where the participants got to know about the services and objectives of Daaqi, possibly viewing the company as a potential outsourcing partner. Daaqi also collaborates with events and works as the logistic event partner.

Value of the company

Customer satisfaction tops the chart of values for Daaqi. Shah also says that he doesn’t really believe in setting unrealistic vision and objectives in the beginning and rather likes to set missions of the company on the go. “One of my colleagues had a differing idea on how we should set missions and visions in the very beginning itself, but I believe that those happen inadvertently once we start giving the best service to our clients. We can cater to around 30 companies at a time right now and our main goal is to do that effectively. We are just a new enterprise on the market that entered to solve a problem and we have a ‘get more done’ attitude within the team”, says Bijendra.