By Prince Osuagwu, Hi-Tech Editor

 Sola Masha is a pharmacist with cognate medical professional experience. He has also been Operations Executive of global repute with professional experience in Europe and West Africa.

 But he is now the Country Manager, Bolt Foods vertical of the Ride-hailing business Bolt.

 The story of how Masha moved from being a medical professional to a renowned food delivery industry strategist is one for another day, but in this interview, he tells Hi-Tech how he has been able to use technology grow the BOLT Food vertical to the extent it has revolutionised the Nigerian food delivery landscape.

 Masha relishes that he is known for using technology to scale and constantly re-evaluate solutions to see if they still provide the desired outcomes.

Excerpts;

Diversification has hit the ride-hailing business with everyone moving into other areas. Is that why you pioneer BOLT FOOD?

Bolt Food only launched during the pandemic as a response to a growing demand for food delivery service and in a short period of time has become the market leader in several of the markets it operates in. Bolt intends to quickly replicate this success in other cities/countries including Nigeria and has quickly developed the expertise to do this ensuring a high quality service. The habits formed during the lockdown have been sustained even as the world opened. Once you experience the convenience, there are many reasons people would want food delivered at home.

 How do you use technology to run the food division of Bolt?

Technology is a vital part of the success of Bolt Food. Technology allows us to scale and provide a great service to all our stakeholders. The technology allows eaters to select food from a range of restaurants; gives restaurants flexibility to manage their account to make immediate changes to their menu as well as effective payout systems to our couriers.

 Who are your partners and what impact are you  making in the entire ecosystem?

Bolt Food has three partners, the eaters who buy the food; the restaurants who prepare the food; and the couriers who deliver the food and our approach is to bring value to all three partners. Our relationship with our eaters is to give value across affordability, selection and quality of service. For our couriers is to provide enough work for good earnings. And for our restaurants is to provide an excellent channel to sell high quality meals. All our partnerships stem from collaboration to ensure that the ecosystem is healthy. Our growth strategy is to consolidate our position in these markets, leveraging the footprint of our ride-hailing vertical and strong, mutually-beneficial partnerships with restaurants and couriers

 Food is a sensitive item. Let’s go into the security and safety measures that will make people trust you more than other delivery options?

We do this by having partners who are compliant with all regulations. This applies to restaurants and couriers. We also have a highly trained customer support team that is on hand to attend to restaurants, couriers and eaters’ needs at all times.

 Based on the experience of today, can you project the food delivery industry, the players and how it can impact the economy in the coming years?

There is huge potential for the food delivery industry in Nigeria due to the wealth of restaurants and variety of cuisines available. In addition, there is a huge labour force to tap into the food delivery space serving a market looking for more convenience in their daily lives. Due to this there will be a lot of competition but lasting in the space will be dependent on providing quality service across board and ensuring operations excellence. The impact on the economy could be tremendous over the coming years.

 How has the response to Bolt food been, seeing that the business was launched after several food delivery services?

The response has been great as the quality of our service speaks for itself. Like, I mentioned earlier we focus on operational excellence which invariably brings value to all

 How seamless is it to register as a courier and what impact will it make on them? It is pretty straightforward to register as a courier as you can sign-up online with all the necessary registration documents; take a training session in-person or virtually and be onboarded almost immediately. The impact is that as long as you have a bicycle or motorcycle you can start working on the platform within minutes of registration.