Lamma, a Tunisian business that creates short commerce apps for young, active Africans, is expanding internationally with a debut in Morocco.
Lamma, founded by Yassir El Ismaili El Edrissi, Hamza Guesmi, and Koussi Aymen in 2020, uses a mix of dark storefronts and its partner network to deliver groceries, food, personal care, electronics, and fashion products to consumers in less than 45 minutes.
It started off as a ridesharing app, but after participating in the Flat6Labs Tunis accelerator programme in June of last year, it shifted its focus to logistics.
“We believe e-commerce in Africa is suffering from last mile and payment inefficiencies. Cash on delivery and inability to deliver on the same day are obstacles Lamma is solving,” El Idrissi told as per reports. “We are preparing expansion to new African countries, starting with Morocco,” he added.
Solving such problems has aided it in fast gaining traction. In its initial market of Tunis, Lamma has witnessed month-on-month growth of over 50% since pivoting to fast commerce. It currently has over 1,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs) and works with over 150 retailers, and it received an undisclosed investment from Orange Ventures in October to help it expand internationally.
Lamma will attempt to expand into Sub-Saharan African markets after taking a fee on each transaction it leads to a partner and operating a standard buy-then-sell business model with its dark storefronts. El Idrissi believes the team will succeed despite the obstacles of being a fresh entrant into a new market.
“Of course, partners, in the beginning, have difficulties trusting a new player, especially out of the food and beverage industry. But the quality of the team, our hard work, and the traction are solving this issue progressively,” he concluded.
