Spedag serves big and small clients alike   By Elvis Basudde   One of the well known names in the business of clearing and forwarding is Spedag Uganda, located at Port Bell, Luzira. It had its humble beginning in 1998 when there were a few companies in this sector. “This sector was a monopoly by the Government and a few private companies- Intraship and Panalpin. Today, there are over 360 players and we are among the top,” says Joram Nyanzi,the general manager. The company came in as a new player at Agip House and after a year, the shareholders felt there was room to open up an inland container depot in Luzira. With a customs yard of three acres capable of handling more than 300 containers at ago, the company is involved in road transport, air flight, sea transport, documentation and logistics across continents. Currently, the company boasts of a workforce of 100 people as opposed to only eight workers in 1998 when it started. It has opened up offices at all the border points and it is represented in all the grate lakes countries including Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, and Sudan.   Joram Nyanzi, the general manager of Spedag The company’s main purpose is to offer project logistics. It has been involved in moving cargo for major contractors and projects in Uganda like the Owen Falls Dam, Bujagali. Their clientele cuts across from projects to manufacturing, traders, embassies and NGOs. “Sometimes small business owners think dealing with Spedag is reserved for the corporate or big players, which is not the case. We handle big businesses, but we also give attention to the small time traders,” says Nyanzi. He says the few clients they started with have stuck with them and it is from those that they have got new ones. The first clients did a lot of publicity for the company. The company does not depend so much on expatriates. Instead, they concentrate on developing the local staff. Nyanzi started as the operations manager three years ago and has grown through the ranks to become the general manager. “Developing local staff to take over the activities is a unique factor in our industry. When you visit some of our big competitors, you will see a bigger percentage of expatriates when it comes to the management team,” he says “This implies that the approach to handling transaction or when you are developing strategies is more tailored to what the requirements are here other than some one coming with the European thinking and doing things the way they are done there.” Nyanzi says their biggest achievement is the reputation they have developed in the market of being a good service provider and being able to do project logistics and support the contractors to enable them meet their targets. Also the fact that the company has grown from doing one particular simple service of documentation to providing total package is also reason to be proud. “We have managed to set up a network here in the region, this office being the regional hub. We get a lot of business in other countries based on our set up in Uganda. In terms of infrastructure, especially IT, we have now developed modern and sophisticated tools to use,” he says. Spedag is one of the most compliant organisations that deals with Uganda Revenue Authority. It does not get involved in non compliant practices and does not entertain tax evaders. “Working hand-in-hand with URA, which is in charge of control over licensed customs and forwarding agents, ensures that shipments are delivered safely and in time using integrated overland, sea and air networks,” says Nyanzi Spedag has strategies geared towards trying to respond to the regional market. They are setting up offices at strategic locations and they are also expanding their facilities, especially the fleet of tracks to cater for more projects. They are soon building a factory at Namanve to have more facilities.