CargoLuna Cuban digital platform similar to Amazon

CargoLuna Cuban digital platform similar to Amazon
HAVANA, March 9th  A Cuban created in Bayamo, Granma province, a platform called CargoLuna to provide services similar to those offered by the American e-commerce company Amazon in Cuba.

Martín Proenza had previously developed the YoTeLlevo initiative, a technological service focused on the transport of passengers throughout the island, which began as an exchange of emails between drivers and customers until it became an application.

Given the economic paralysis and the crisis generated by the coronavirus pandemic, which affected its previous ventures, Proenza last year weighed the idea of ​​launching a digital platform that would allow purchases in markets in other provinces and the transport of parcels throughout the whole country.

“I was reviewing topics of Artificial Intelligence, EdTech, videogames, Business systems, among others; But in the middle of it all, I realized that the e-commerce ecosystem in Cuba lacked a solution to get the products to customers in other provinces, ”he told the independent media YucaByte.
“At first I thought that with intermediate warehouses on the island this could be achieved, in the style of Amazon’s Fulfillment Centers, but I realized that a less expensive solution could be better,” he said. Proenza said that in the beginning, he had focused on the tourism market, but for a long time, he wanted to develop some solution for Cubans.

One of his acquaintances in the taxi business had prompted him to seek alternatives, while Cuba remained closed to international tourism and activity reduced. “This already brought everything together and I knew right away that this would be a business to keep forever, not just during quarantine,” he said.
It was in this way that he reinvented himself so that the crisis did not completely sink him. “Unfortunately, something like this doesn’t exist in Cuba yet,” he said in reference to his creation. “There are options such as Correos de Cuba, or shipments by bus, but none meets the requirements of immediacy, guarantees, and systematicity that businesses need for their operations, and they are not trying to achieve this either,” he argued.
“The infrastructure really exists, what happens is that the procedures have not been defined, nor the technology created to achieve it. Our task is precisely to achieve these three characteristics so that trade flows in a better way on the Island, using procedures and technology, ”he said.
While he looks for ways to employ specialized freight transport, he uses the free capacities of the vehicles, through his previous endeavors as YoTeLlevo. However, he admits that the development of his projects depends largely on the degree of permissibility and openness of the Cuban government, which shows no progress in the establishment of small and medium-sized private companies in the country.
“I think that with people doing activities as ‘simple’ as those that the self-employed are allowed to carry out, great progress will not be achieved. More complex players are needed in the economy, bringing together the talents of various people and combining them in unique ways to achieve high-impact products and services.
Those actors are companies. I believe that without real freedom to create complex products and services, there is no possibility of creating companies with the possibility of growth and sustainability ”, stated Proenza.(Translated from Cibercuba)