The Invisible War: Fixing Supply Chains is Boring and Profitable

The Sexy vs. The Necessary

In the Kenyan startup scene, there is a hierarchy of "Occupational Prestige": 1. Fintech Founder (Top of the pyramid) 2. AI Founder 3. E-commerce Founder 4. Logistics Founder (Bottom)

Nobody wants to touch supply chain. It's dirty. It's dusty. It involves dealing with truck drivers, police roadblocks, and warehouse rats.

But here is the truth: Supply Chain is where the money is.

Most people think Supply Chain is "moving boxes". It's not. It is the operating system of the physical economy.

The Milk Paradox

Let's talk about milk. - A liter of milk costs KES 40 at the farm gate in Limuru. - It costs KES 120 at the supermarket in Nairobi. - The farmer is poor. The consumer is overcharged.

Where did the KES 80 go?

It went to waste and inefficiency. - 30% of milk spoils in transit (Lack of cold chain). - Trucks return empty (Dead miles). - 5 middlemen take a cut without adding value.

The Billion Dollar Opportunity

Fixing this is not a "code" problem. It is a Physics and Finance problem.

At Orb21, we are looking for founders who want to build:

1. Cold Chain as a Service We don't need another Milk Delivery App. We need *solar-powered refrigerated storage* at collection centers. We need IoT sensors that track temperature in real-time so processors can trust the quality.

2. Route Optimization for the Real World Google Maps doesn't know that the bridge on Road B washed away yesterday. It doesn't know that the police at Junction C demand a bribe at 4 PM. We need routing algorithms built on local knowledge (crowdsourced from drivers) to optimize delivery times.

3. Asset Financing based on Usage Banks won't lend to a truck driver. They want collateral (Title Deeds). We need a system that lends against the *asset* and the *cash flow*. "We will finance your tire replacement, and we will deduct it automatically from your next delivery payment."

Boring is Good. Boring is Profitable.

If your startup idea sounds boring to your friends at a cocktail party, you are probably on to something.

• "I'm building a neobank" -> Too late. Crowded.
• "I'm building a digital warehouse receipt system for maize" -> **Bingo.**

Let's build the boring stuff. Let's fix the pipes, the roads, the warehouses. That's where the value is trapped. That's where the next African Unicorn lives.