Tag: Lamide Akinola

Glovo launches a LiveOps Hub in Abuja to strengthen Customer Experience and operational resilience

Glovo, a leading technology platform offering on demand services from restaurants, supermarkets and stores, has officially launched its LiveOps Hub in Abuja, marking a major step in strengthening customer support, operational efficiency, and talent development across Nigeria.

The new hub is designed to address key challenges within Nigeria’s rapidly growing Q-commerce ecosystem, including low digital trust, infrastructure volatility, and the need for 24/7 real-time service. With a team of over 100 trained professionals, the facility provides live operational support to customers, riders, and vendors using the Glovo platform nationwide.

According to the General Manager, Glovo Nigeria, Lamide Akinola, the Abuja LiveOps Hub demonstrates the company’s ongoing investment in innovation, reliability, and human capital development in Nigeria.

Akinola explained that the new facility integrates advanced Artificial Intelligence technology with human intelligence to ensure seamless and secure service.

“The LiveOps Hub in Abuja reflects our investment in resilience and reliability. We have invested heavily in redundant high-speed satellite links and powerful backup power solutions, including generators and solar systems, to ensure our team operates 24/7 without downtime. This means we are always available when customers, riders, or vendors need us most,” she said.

The hub’s tiered support system is built around specialized “Pods”, such as Refunds, Rider Support, and Vendor Relations, allowing agents to resolve complex cases faster and with greater precision.

Since its establishment in early 2025, the team has maintained an impressive 90% success rate in responding to customer inquiries within 30 seconds, setting a new benchmark for responsiveness and reliability in Nigeria’s on-demand sector.

Beyond speed and technology, the Abuja hub embodies Glovo’s conviction that exceptional customer support hinges on a deep understanding of local needs. In cities where unmapped addresses and complex routes can challenge delivery operations, the locally based LiveOps team plays a key role in helping riders and customers connect seamlessly. Agents utilise their knowledge of neighbourhoods, landmarks, and delivery patterns to resolve navigation-related issues in real-time, bridging the gap between technology and on-the-ground realities.

Beyond operations, the Abuja Hub doubles as a LiveOps Academy, dedicated to nurturing and retaining Nigerian talent. Agents receive training beyond customer service, including business analysis, fraud detection, and project management. This investment not only builds long-term skills but also strengthens Nigeria’s growing digital service ecosystem and contributes to a more resilient digital economy.

“Our approach combines people, technology, and local understanding. We are not just solving customer challenges, we are building trust in Nigeria’s digital economy by showing that reliability, innovation, and opportunity can coexist,” Akinola added.

The Abuja LiveOps Hub plays a key role in Glovo’s long-term vision: setting new standards for customer experience, operational excellence, and localized innovation across Africa. Through this investment, Glovo reaffirms its commitment to defining what exceptional service looks like in the fast-evolving Quick-Commerce sector.

November 11, 2025
Feature: Redefining Customer Support for the speed of quick commerce

By Lamide Akinola

Quick-commerce platforms are bridging the gap in traditional e-commerce by giving people what they want, exactly when they want it. Ultra-fast delivery of essentials, from groceries and food to pharmaceuticals and personal care items, has changed how people shop and how they expect the experience to unfold seamlessly.

Just as speed and reliability are crucial for getting items to your doorstep, customers now expect the same level of speed and reliability from customer support, especially in a sector where live issues unfold at a fast pace.

At Glovo, we have always understood that local context and understanding is critical in order to provide great customer support. That’s why Nigeria became the first market in Africa where we have fully localized our customer support operations. By moving our hub from Kenya to Abuja, we are now closer to our customers, partners, and riders, ensuring faster, more empathetic, and more relevant support.

Building Trust in Nigeria’s digital marketplace

As a tech platform, our mobile app and website serve as our storefront. Thus, technology alone isn’t enough; it’s the human touch of our customer support that truly brings the experience to life. The launch of our Abuja-based Live Operations Hub represents a major milestone in Glovo’s journey in Nigeria. With more than 90 locally trained agents, our team understands the local nuances and resolve challenges in the dynamic Nigerian cities.

The core nature of an on-demand business means issues are time-sensitive: a rider is stranded, an order is wrong, or a refund is urgently needed. The challenge is handling thousands of high-pressure, varied inquiries instantly across a massive user base, while also tuning into the Nigerian culture. Complex issues are handled by senior specialists, while our frontline team responds to most inquiries within 30 seconds, ensuring customers are never left waiting.

Local expertise combined with AI

Our localized hub combines human expertise with smart technology to ensure every issue is resolved quickly and fairly. Advanced AI tools help our agents route issues to the right team instantly, while human insight ensures the tone, empathy, and understanding is always right.

Supporting smoother navigation

In cities with largely unmapped addresses that are complex to navigate, ensuring accurate deliveries requires more than just technology. Our locally based customer support team plays a crucial role in helping riders and customers connect seamlessly, using their knowledge of neighbourhoods, landmarks, and routes to solve navigation-related issues in real time.

Through hyper-local training and geo-tagging, our agents turn feedback into data that then improves future experiences, helping make every future deliveries smoother.

Investing in local expertise

Localizing operations also means investing in local talent. At the Abuja Hub, Glovo provides agents with comprehensive training beyond customer interaction: covering business analysis, data handling, and project management. This not only builds long-term skills but also strengthens Nigeria’s digital service ecosystem.

Looking into the future

Innovation never stops. In Quick-commerce, speed and reliability matter most: fast deliveries, functional apps, and superior customer support is key. Glovo is committed to raising the bar and defining what excellent service looks like in Q-Commerce. We’re proud to keep building trust and long-term relationships that keep users coming back.

Lamide Akinola is the General Manager of Glovo Nigeria.

October 23, 2025
GITEX Nigeria Supernova Challenge Winner – Curacel to Represent Nigeria at 2025 Glovo Startup Campus in Barcelona

Curacel, a leading AI insurance infrastructure company in Nigeria, has emerged as the winner of the 2025 GITEX Nigeria Supernova Challenge and will represent Nigeria at the 2025 Glovo Startup Campus, which will be held in October in Barcelona, Spain.

Curacel emerged as the winner of the 12 startups that pitched at the Grand Finale of the Challenge, held on Thursday, September 4, at the Landmark Event Centre. The Supernova Challenge, a globally recognised pitch competition, made its regional debut at GITEX Nigeria.

Across two days, over 650 startups from more than 27 countries competed for a total prize pool of $22,000. The competition highlighted game-changing solutions in various sectors, including Agritech, Cybersecurity, Healthtech, and more.

With this success, Curacel’s Chief Executive Officer, Henry Mascot, will be expected to join other startup founders from around the world who will participate in the third edition of Glovo Startup Campus week at Glovo’s Headquarters in Barcelona for an intensive programme designed to accelerate growth, networking, and foster global collaboration.

This year marks the first time Nigeria will be included in the initiative, following a strategic partnership between Glovo and the organisers of the GITEX Nigeria Tech Expo and Future Economy Summit.

The emergence of Curacel as the winner at the GITEX Nigeria Tech Expo & Future Economy Summit in Lagos, among innovative startups competing across several categories, fulfils Glovo’s broader mission to strengthen Africa’s growing technology ecosystem and spotlight the continent as a major player in global innovation.

Speaking at the Grand Finale event, the General Manager of Glovo Nigeria, Lamide Akinola, who was a member of the jury for the 2025 GITEX Nigeria Supernova Challenge, congratulated the winner and expressed excitement about Nigeria’s representation at this year’s event. Akinola stated that the selection marks a milestone in Glovo’s journey of spotlighting Africa’s startup ecosystem and fostering global connections.

“At Glovo, we are committed to enabling entrepreneurs to access opportunities that not only grow their businesses but also contribute to the digital transformation of Africa. We are proud to see a Nigerian startup founder join the 2025 Glovo Startup Campus. This is a testament to the creativity and resilience of Nigeria’s tech ecosystem,” she said.

In his remarks, Vice President, Commercial, Curacel, Abduljahab Momoh, expressed appreciation to the Glovo team for the opportunity. He noted that the recognition will motivate his team to accelerate their expansion into Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the United States of America.

The Glovo Startup Campus is an annual international programme that brings together standout startups from around the world at Glovo’s headquarters in Barcelona, Spain, for an immersive experience in mentorship, networking, and knowledge sharing—geared towards scaling solutions with real-world impact.

September 8, 2025
2025 Glovo Startup Campus: Glovo Partners GITEX Nigeria 2025 Startup Festival

Glovo, a leading technological platform connecting customers, businesses, and riders and offering multicategory on-demand services, has entered into a strategic partnership arrangement with the organisers of GITEX Nigeria Tech Expo & Future Economy Summit to select a Tech Startup founder during the summit to attend the 2025 Glovo Startup Campus programme scheduled to hold its third edition in October in Barcelona, Spain.

The Glovo Startup Campus is an annual programme by Glovo that brings tech startups from key markets to its headquarters in Barcelona for intensive mentoring, networking, and knowledge-sharing sessions focused on scaling their solutions for greater impact. Every year, participants are selected through a local startup competition, and the winner gets to represent their country at the Glovo Startup Campus in Spain.

Last year, the programme hosted 21 people from 16 startups, representing four countries. Their participation allowed them to access 20 mentors, some of whom are Vice Presidents and board directors of blue-chip companies.

During the event, participants had a one-on-one session with Impact Hub to discuss individual check-in points and action plans. Three venture Capitalists were on the ground to witness pitch ideas from techpreneurs, while three guest speakers also participated in a roundtable discussion.

For the first time, Glovo is extending the programme to Nigeria to enable a Startup Owner from Nigeria to participate.

In her remarks, Glovo Nigeria’s General Manager, Lamide Akinola, explained that the partnership with GITEX Nigeria underscores the company’s commitment to spotlighting the continent’s rapidly evolving tech ecosystem and positioning Africa not just as a growth market but as a driver of global innovation.

Akinola stated that the 2025 Startup Festival offers the opportunity to exchange ideas on digital inclusion, sustainable urban logistics, and how platform businesses can fuel local economic development.

“It’s exciting to see many entrepreneurs, investors, and tech leaders come together to co-create solutions to uniquely African challenges. I’m particularly eager to explore partnerships and policy frameworks that can unlock the next wave of e-commerce potential in Nigeria and beyond,” she said.

She disclosed that the decision to enlist a Nigerian participant for the programme reflects the company’s commitment to nurturing entrepreneurial ecosystems in the country. The programme offers promising startups exposure to global best practices, mentorship from industry leaders, and the opportunity to plug into an international innovation network.

August 12, 2025
Glovo reinforces its commitment to the growth of SMEs in Nigeria
…celebrates outstanding partners at its annual Partners and Brands event with over 80 local and international partner brands in attendance

Glovo, one of the world’s leading multi-category apps, has launched Glovo Ads, a new offering designed to enable brands, restaurants and shops to accelerate their growth and market themselves to consumers directly in-app. This was announced at its annual Partners and Brands event which took place recently in Ikoyi, Lagos to celebrate the power of partnerships in boosting Nigeria’s Q-commerce industry.

Lorenzo Mayol, Brands Ads Director for Africa and outgoing General Manager for Glovo Nigeria kicked off the event by introducing Lamide Akinola, the newly appointed General Manager of Glovo Nigeria. In his address, he explained that Glovo Ads has been specifically designed to provide partners with the tools they need to deploy campaigns across the marketing funnel and help small businesses and restaurants to drive sales in their local area.

Both large multinational brands and small independent shops can use Glovo’s specialist services through two specific platforms:
- Through Brands Ads, marketers can use auto bidding, an advanced automation solution that optimises the bidding process by calculating the expected value of the impression based on the learned conversion rate over time and the price of the product.
- With Partner Ads, small and medium-sized shops and restaurants are guided as to the best placement within the app to ensure the highest return on investment. And because many of these businesses don’t have dedicated marketing teams, Glovo Partner Ads makes it easy to start advertising with any budget on a pay-per-click basis that can be paused at any time to ensure partners always see a positive return on investment.
Glovo Ads will also provide off-app services, enabling both brands and smaller retailers to reach users through programmatic buying, all via Glovo’s self-service model. Brands can also see how their campaigns are performing in real time, enabling them to adjust their spending to target consumers accordingly both on and off the app. Already, companies in Nigeria such as Coca-Cola, Bacardi, Pernod Ricard, Diageo, Nestle, Tolaram and Reckitt, have built Glovo into the marketing stack, while multinational advertising companies like Publicis are working with their clients to market through the app.

Lorenzo Mayol, Brands Ads Director for Africa, explains: “With millions of users regularly buying a dynamic range of products thanks to our multi-category offering beyond just takeaway and grocery shopping, we can help these businesses to build brand awareness and grow sales at a time when it is becoming significantly more challenging to reach customers effectively.”

Lamide Akinola, in her first public appearance as the General Manager of Glovo Nigeria, shared inspiring insights into Glovo’s remarkable achievements, focusing on its high-level statistics, user growth, and overall success. Lamide proudly announced that the platform has experienced an outstanding 350% growth rate year-on-year, attributing this impressive result to Glovo’s unwavering commitment to affordability and customer satisfaction.

“Our continued growth and success reflect the trust and loyalty that both our partners and customers have placed in Glovo,” said Lamide Akinola, General Manager, Glovo Nigeria. “We are dedicated to delivering a seamless and convenient experience for our users while continuously expanding our network of partners and brands to provide an unmatched variety of offerings, and contribute to our local and pan-African growth.”

During the event, Glovo recognised exceptional performances and presented awards to deserving partners and sales associates. These awards acknowledged excellence in various categories, highlighting remarkable accomplishments and the relentless pursuit of delivering exceptional services. Among the awards bestowed were Customer’s Favorite, Above and Beyond Recognition, Visionary, Rising Star, and Q-commerce Innovation, to name a few.
July 27, 2023
Lamide Akinola becomes Glovo Nigeria General Manager

Glovo has announced the appointment of Lamide Akinola as the new General Manager (GM) of its Nigeria operations. Succeeding Lorenzo Mayol who has been reassigned as the Director of Brands for Glovo Sub-Saharan Africa, Lamide’s appointment took effect from July 1, 2023.

Lamide brings extensive industry and leadership experience, having worked across multiple African markets over the last decade. Her journey with Glovo began in 2021 where she served as the Head of Q-commerce for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), a role where she demonstrated the capacity to lead the company to even greater heights as it continues to shape the future of retail in Africa. In her capacity as the Head of Q-commerce SSA, she drove the growth of the company’s digital marketplace for groceries, health and retail and scaled the company’s dark stores (Glovo Bargains) across the region.

Commenting on the appointment, Executive Director, Regional General Manager for Glovo Africa, Diego Nouet said, “I am pleased to welcome Lamide to her new role where her skills as a resilient leader and strategist will take Glovo Nigeria to the next level. We are confident in Lamide’s ability to sustain and scale Glovo’s expansion and our continued growth in Nigeria.”

On her part, Lamide Akinola, General Manager for Glovo Nigeria said, “I am excited to continue to drive the growth of Glovo in Nigeria and strengthen the company’s positive impact on businesses and couriers in the country. Our mission at Glovo is to shape the future of retail by creating a simple, fast, and convenient experience for consumers who buy anything online, and I am excited to be a part of the incredible team that will help deliver this goal.”

Before joining Glovo, Lamide served as a consultant at McKinsey & Company and was responsible for developing and implementing comprehensive strategies for some of the largest companies in Africa & Europe. Lamide holds an MBA from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from University College London (UCL).

July 11, 2023