In this episode, Adrian speaks with Anthony Owusu-Ansah, the founder of ShaQ Express, Ghana's first super app. Anthony shares the journey of ShaQ Express, which started as a delivery service in 2020 and evolved into a super app offering a variety of services, including food delivery, online shopping, and medical consultations. The conversation covers the challenges and successes of building the app, the importance of sustainability with electric bikes, and the impact of customer feedback on their services. Anthony also discusses future plans for expansion and collaboration with other businesses.

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Timestamps / Topics

0:00 Starting ShaQ Express

6:08 Story about the Name

14:30 Super Apps in Africa

17:24 Green Transportation Initiative

29:28 Opening Opportunities for Female Uber Drivers

31:28 Rider Safety Training and Culture at Shack Express

40:08 Business Expansion Strategy

44:47 Collaborative Business Approach

47:02 Customer-Centric Business Strategy

50:04 Outro

Watch season 6 episode 8 with Cyril Kwadzo:

https://youtu.be/ewz1iKZxAXs?si=98aufMW7G10hcw0W

Catch up with Season 5 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnqpgGxTAXg&list=PLJUVirAfWnNoGiJNHHWm6aYTUUberuD5V

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Speaker A [0:00 - 1:28]: Hey, everyone. I go by the name of Adrian Daniels. Welcome to the Sound of Accra podcast. This is your first time listening. This is the show where we speak of top ghanaian founders, entrepreneurs, and creators worldwide with the aim of leaving you behind the meaningful takeaways that you can apply in life, business and career. We've been running for four years now, and I would like to thank all of you for your support. This is a show where we speak with amazing, amazing people around the world who are ghanaian or other interest in Ghana. And the aim is to leave you behind the meaningful takeaways that you can apply in your life, business and career. Now, for today's show notes, I'd like you to head over to the soundofthecrowd.com shaqexpress. Shaq, as in the basketball player Shaquille O'Neal. That's S h a Q express. Right. So e x p R e s s. Don't worry if you're not good at spelling. You didn't do well in English. We'll have all the links in the podcast description below on YouTube or in the podcast players. Okay, if you're listening to Spotify and Apple podcasts. Five star reviews. Very much appreciated. Let us know what you think of today's conversation. Join the conversation in YouTube comments and maybe this can turn into maybe a live discussion, a webinar, or in person masterclass or meetup or whatever it may be, right? Just let us know. Drop us an email infohesoundofacrad.com. right, so that's housekeeping out the way. I'd like to introduce today's guest. Today's guest is Anthony Awasu Ansar, and he is the founder of Shack Express. Okay. Garner's first super app to put into s one mple. He's going to explain it a bit more in just a moment. Anthony, thanks for coming on.

Speaker B [1:28 - 1:29]: Thanks. Thanks.

Speaker A [1:30 - 1:59]: Let's get the elephant out of the room. This is actually our second time recording this interview in all transparency, as you know. I know this season we're going to do some behind the scenes and show you what really goes on, because we want to be transparent and authentic with our audience. But, yeah, I mean, Anthony's top, top, top man. We tried to record this yesterday. We went horribly wrong as we're trying to shoot in four k, and we're just trying to make things work. Hopefully, this interview can go much better than did yesterday. But, yeah. Anthony, thank you for coming back on the show.

Speaker B [2:00 - 2:01]: You're always welcome.

Speaker A [2:01 - 2:12]: Yeah. So, yeah, before we kind of dive deep, into the interview, just give the audience an elevated pitch. Less than 60 seconds about Shack Express and then maybe a bit about yourself.

Speaker A [3:22 - 3:36]: I love that as well. When you mentioned also the environment sustainability aspect as well. And I know you guys have kind of like pivoted into like green bikes as well, which will talk about that. And then you had like a little collaboration recently. London school business, I believe.

Speaker B [3:36 - 3:36]: Yes, yes, yes.

Speaker A [3:37 - 3:41]: So we'll kind of get into that. Why the name Shack Express? I mean.

Speaker B [3:43 - 3:56]: So the name Shaq, most people know me by Shaq. They don't even know my name is Anthony. This name I got from secondary school, the only school in this country, the best school in this country. What is that?

Speaker A [3:57 - 4:09]: Yeah, it's a good one. I would have gone there if I stayed in Ghana. But I ran away after JSS, back to the UK because I went to Morningstar and I ran away back to. I didn't want to get bullied, so I ran away.

Speaker B [4:10 - 4:14]: By the way, me being here is good enough. You have a feel for influence.

Speaker A [4:14 - 4:17]: It's a good school. I've always heard high things in my.

Speaker B [4:17 - 4:52]: So that's how I got a name. I got a name from fanspin. Then at a time when I was thinking of what name to give to the business, I was trying to. I struggled a lot because then at the time, I was thinking of the name for the business, I was thinking of the name for the business, for delivery. But at the same time, I knew that I want to go beyond delivery. I want to do more than just delivery. So that I didn't want a name that would restrict me to just delivery, but a name that would take me beyond delivery. So I was struggling. I know eventually, in a haste of registration, I said, you know what, with Shark Express, yeah, I swear, with Shack.

Speaker A [4:52 - 5:03]: Express, I guess it works, right? Because everything is some kind of delivery, whether it's food, whether it's ordering something online, whether it's delivery driver, pharmacy, anything.

Speaker B [5:03 - 5:03]: It works with it.

Speaker A [5:03 - 5:14]: It's all to do with something being purchased and then there's a delivery at some point, you know what I mean? But hopefully this where the customer service part comes in doing great, quick service.

Speaker B [5:14 - 5:18]: But my daughter, my son has the name Shuck, so it's part of their name.

Speaker A [5:18 - 5:23]: So you kept it in the family? Family. Your daughter's got Shaq as well?

Speaker B [5:23 - 5:25]: Yeah, she's got Shaq as well.

Speaker A [5:25 - 5:26]: Is that a unisex name?

Speaker B [5:26 - 5:27]: It's a unisex name.

Speaker A [5:27 - 5:27]: Really?

Speaker B [5:27 - 5:28]: Yeah.

Speaker A [5:28 - 5:29]: Crazy. I've never heard about that.

Speaker B [5:29 - 5:36]: It actually has a lot of different meanings and it's beautiful. The name is actually beautiful. So later I delve into it and to understand what a name really is.

Speaker A [5:36 - 5:37]: What does the name Shaq mean?

Speaker B [5:37 - 5:47]: So in some countries it means you are handsome or beautiful. Some countries means you are powerful. In some countries it means it has different meanings depending on the country. Find us out there.

Speaker A [5:47 - 6:01]: All positive connotations, positive, positive conversations. Brilliant. Great. And, you know, of course, you started off with delivering. Could you tell us about how you started the shack Express? So you kind of.

Speaker A [6:31 - 6:33]: Too much traffic just to get home and work out.

Speaker B [6:33 - 6:41]: Then you now need to cook. You know, I need to stop by the pharmacy and buy this and I need to go to maybe a mall to get this.

Speaker A [6:41 - 6:43]: It's too stressful back into the traffic, isn't it?

Speaker B [6:43 - 7:03]: Why, yes. So in Taqwa, I used to move around a lot. I come back home and I need to drive again to go and buy my food, drive again to do this, and it was too stressful. So I asked around if they have any delivery service or service that can give me the things I need without me having to move from the comfort of my home. They didn't have. I was like, wow, how can you not have this here?

Speaker A [7:03 - 7:09]: But in terms of that region, would you say there's that kind of, would you expect to have that kind of service in that region?

Speaker B [7:10 - 7:15]: Yeah, in the north, yeah. There are big companies there, gold fields and.

Speaker A [7:15 - 7:16]: Really?

Speaker B [7:16 - 7:57]: Yes, the big companies there. Why not? I expected. And for the fact that the mode of transport also included motorcycle, I expect that something like that will be there. But surprisingly, it wasn't. So I was like, okay, why hasn't anyone started? I didn't get any good answer. So I said, you know what? I will do this for myself and for other people who need it. To me, it wasn't so much of a business. It was so much of a service for me and those who conveniently need that. So I wasn't expecting on a large scale. Then, just when I was about to start, I bought some bicycles, I got a business register. I mean, I started with some few things, did my budget, then I was moved back to Accra.

Speaker A [7:57 - 7:58]: Wow, you moved back?

Speaker B [7:58 - 7:59]: I was moved back to Accra.

Speaker A [7:59 - 8:00]: Who moved you back?

Speaker B [8:00 - 8:01]: The company.

Speaker A [8:01 - 8:02]: The company you worked for at the.

Speaker B [8:02 - 8:05]: Time, I was working for the company, so then they transferred me to Accra.

Speaker A [8:05 - 8:06]: Okay.

Speaker A [9:27 - 9:27]: Wow.