Challenge
Despite rapid growth in Sub-Saharan Africa’s digital economy, internet use on the continent remains the lowest in the world, and many services like e-commerce remain constrained by long-distance shipping costs and last-mile logistics. This unmet demand presents a significant opportunity for American businesses offering solutions to expand connectivity.
Solution and Impact
A $5 million DFC loan is helping QuantumID Technologies of Cambridge, Mass., expand its SmartKargo e-commerce and logistics platform in Senegal. The SmartKargo platform offers consumers in Senegal a way to shop from merchant sites in the United States, United Kingdom, and other markets for goods not available locally, and to export goods produced in Africa back to those markets. QuantumID supports affordable delivery by partnering with Air Senegal and other airlines to use empty cargo space for transporting goods to multiple destinations. It also supports last-mile delivery within Senegal.
In addition to creating new markets for goods made in the United States, the transaction will promote economic activity and stability in Senegal, the most stable country in Africa’s Sahel and an important contributor to enhancing security in a volatile region.
QuantumID was founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006 and became a finalist in the school’s entrepreneurship competition for its cloud-based cargo tracking technology that offered an efficient and low-cost alternative to traditional methods of shipping cargo in developing countries.
This project was profiled in 2025.