Palli — Coordinating Local Distribution Across Africa

THE REALITY

Goods move. Information doesn’t.

Every day across Uganda, trucks and tricycles carry essential goods from local suppliers to thousands of small retailers. A delivery agent loads up in the morning and drives from shop to shop, checking whether each retailer needs anything, negotiating a sale on the spot, unloading what he can. A single visit can take thirty minutes with no guarantee of a sale.

The supplier back at the depot doesn’t know which deliveries have been made. The retailer doesn’t know when the next truck is coming. Money moves through phone payments, cash, and rough tallies. What happens at each stop stays at that stop. The information lives and dies in the moment of the transaction.

WHAT PALLI DOES

Serving the people and businesses that make the movement of goods possible.

Palli doesn’t own trucks or warehouses. We coordinate the network that already exists.

RETAILER

WhatsApp Ordering & Delivery Updates

Retailers confirm orders, track deliveries, and communicate with suppliers through WhatsApp.

Every role in the chain gains the visibility to operate with confidence.

10:33 AM ✓✓

2:30 PM

DELIVERY AGENT

Mobile Route & Navigation

Delivery agents organize their stops, optimize routes, and manage customer communication from a mobile app.

2

5 stops

17

24

2

3 min

1.2 km

1

✓ Order

SUPPLIER

Fleet Visibility & Performance Dashboard

Suppliers see real-time operations — loads, deliveries, sales, and financials — from a web dashboard.

PALLI

41

22

km

21

km

22

km

65

total

18

km

14

km

0

km

32

total

8

km

0

km

0

km

8

total

WHY IT WORKS

Three principles, learned from what came before us.

Proximity beats optimization.

The nearest available supplier is the most reliable. We route demand to the closest supply, cutting failed visits and making the system predictable.

Support the existing network, don’t replace it.

Local distributors and delivery agents are the infrastructure. We give them tools that multiply their throughput.

Volume holds the network together.

More orders through every participant means more revenue for agents, more sales for suppliers, and more consistent stock for retailers. Throughput is the loyalty mechanism.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Direct visibility and access to every last-mile transaction.

As orders and deliveries flow through Palli, something emerges that has never existed in this market: a verified record of what’s moving, where, and to whom.

Today, major consumer goods manufacturers ship product into African markets and lose sight of it almost immediately. They don’t know which shops carry their goods, whether promotions reach the shelf, or how demand moves at the local level.

Palli gives them direct access. Every order confirmed, every delivery tracked, every transaction recorded.

WHO WE ARE

On the same roads, serving the same people.

Francis grew up in Ugandan communities and understands local commerce from the inside. Jon spent years mentoring small businesses across Africa. Together they built Palli from observation, not assumption.

But this goes beyond two founders. The whole team has committed to the same work: riding alongside delivery agents, sitting with suppliers, listening to retailers. Serving, listening, and learning. Every product decision comes from time spent with the people who use it.