- Charles Thuo retired from the U.S. Army after an 11-year career and transitioned to become a business solutions app developer
- Thuo founded Apexloads, a mobile-based application providing cargo transport solutions for importers and transporters in East Africa
- The app aims to streamline logistics by facilitating interaction between importers and transporters, reducing the chaos of communication through multiple WhatsApp groups
After 11 years of service in the United States Army, Charles Thuo announced his retirement from active duty embracing his new life as a U.S. Army veteran.
Thuo's illustrious career in the Army saw him rise from private first class (PFT) to captain-quartermaster and finally combat engineer.
While he may have left the battlefront, the Kenyan-born engineer has joined the frontlines of East Africa's booming technology market as a business solutions app developer.
Thuo spoke at the 19th East Africa Business Network (EABN) trade and investment conference highlighting the solution devised for importers by the company he founded, Apexloads.
The mobile-based application provides a cargo transport solution where importers and transporters can interact to make logistics seamless.
"What we have at the moment is chaos because there's no central place where these two players interact," said Thuo, "In fact, you have a situation where they find themselves in several WhatsApp groups and that is where they operate from which is very difficult for a business."
The solution was rolled out in East Africa starting in Kenya where more than 5,000 cargo brokers and transports signed up with almost 15,000 loads already moved through the platform.
"A subscribed (cargo) broker goes into the back-end of their mobile app and puts all the information about the location of their cargo, its destination and how much they are paying for it. A transporter with a truck nearby would then declare their interest and they will complete their business without having to call a ton of people," Thuo explained.
The former Army man hopes that his tech innovation will be embraced across Africa.
"Of course being Kenyan means I had to start from home before going elsewhere and the reception has been amazing. It is our hope that this revolutionary idea will provide logistics industry players the best experience and will become the minimum industry operating platform for transporters and brokers.
'We hope to roll out into the other regional blocks like SADC and ECOWAS, among others so that eventually we can cover the entire continent of Africa," he conveyed.
Apexloads was also one of the exhibitors at the recent Moonshot Conference in Lagos, Nigeria.