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Kenyan e-courier startup Sendy has announced it has tested drone deliveries in Nairobi as it looks to cut down on delivery times.

Launched in 2014, Sendy offers a marketplace for last-mile package delivery and logistics services. A recipient of funding from the Safaricom Spark Fund, it announced earlier this week it is to expand its services to include on-demand ride-hailing for passengers.

Deliveries remains the startup’s bread and butter, however, and chief operations officer (COO) Malaika Judd confirmed this week Sendy had tested its first drone delivery in a bid to bring down delivery times, or deviation from Expected Time of Delivery (ETD).

“Back when we first started Sendy, it was always positive deviation, meaning our riders were taking longer than expected ETD to deliver,” she said.

“Why? Traffic, accidents, blocked roads, gridlocked intersections, matatus in the oncoming lane, rain… I don’t really need to explain, do I? So we spent more and more hours on our lopsided swivel chairs, elbow-to-elbow, heads down trying to solve this challenge.”

Sendy’s answer is drones, with the first test having resulted in a high negative deviation from ETD, meaning the delivery was made sooner than expected.

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