Celebrate the Silver Lining
November, in the Julian and Gregorian calendar is the eleventh and penultimate month of the year (ironically though Novem in Latin actually means “nine” and it was originally the ninth month in the Calendar of Romulus – before January and February were added). November is said to be the month of positivity and preparation for good things to come (Holiday Season I presume!!).
Apart from November being the appointed harbinger month of good fortune, its numerical significance of 11 is also said to be powerful (first 2 digit prime number, is a palindrome, also an “angel number”) with the potential to transcend us to a new and higher level.
Therefore, despite the prevalent financial and political headwinds coupled with the predicted global economic gloom, Bombax was able to expand its influence in the Indian logistic industry during this time.
Network Expansion
As the demand side of the business grows, Bombax’s focus on establishing a strong technology-enabled supply-side network continues. I and my team recently visited the following states to experience first-hand, the unique challenges and opportunities that exist in each geographic location.
Hub + Spoke (COCO)
Bombax has now established its own network in the following North Indian States using its model of Airport Hub + Spokes.
1. Uttar Pradesh – Noida / Lucknow / Varanasi
2. Jammu & Kashmir – Srinagar / Jammu
3. Rajasthan – Jaipur / Udaipur / Jodhpur
This unique model allows us to connect express shipments directly to the closest airports, bringing down handling and transit time by over 25%. This enables us to offer time-definite critical shipments to our clients that need to meet stringent TAT’s in the following industries:
a. IT Equipment
b. Electronic and Engineering Spare Parts
c. Pharma
Rural Distribution Hub (RDH) (Partner + FOFO)
The only way to provide a high level of service is to have control over the supply-side network. To this end Bombax has recently launched its’ RDH initiative to bring rural delivery partners onto our technology platform. This has already started to bring transparency and real time updates (using our mobile APP to deliver shipments) even in remote areas and cut down substantially on the otherwise high error rates (over 28% in rural India).
A special “Channel Partner Team” has been constituted and will be responsible for on-boarding all our partners / vendors across the country to transact on our technology platform – creating value across the board and adding to our expanding network effect!
The Story of I.T. Asset Movement (State wise analytics)
In the last 10 months, Bombax has been moving substantial I.T. Assets (laptops / desktops / monitors / dongles / accessories) for some of the largest aggregators / OEM’s in India. We have built a strong supply-side network across India to be able to service the delivery + pick up of these assets, even from the remotest areas in the country. And we have had to provide these services based on stringent time-lines and strict SLA’s. Whilst in the last few newsletters I had shared the performance metrics (which are above 95% due to the crack control-tower team) – in this newsletter I would like to highlight the following:
Therefore, it can be assumed that the major hubs for I.T. Companies (and their employees) are
Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu with Delhi as an outlier.
Business + Financials
As Bombax continues to expand and add more Hub + Spokes + RDH’s, we need to ensure that we maintain our profitability and continue to stay EBITDA+.
To that effect, we have added more business from our existing aggregator client as well as signed on new International aggregator clients that wish to leverage our agile supply-chain network. These large companies drive volume through us on a pan-India basis (fwd + Rvs) demanding high levels of customization and service. Due to the increased volumes, we are able to operate at healthier margins by continuously bringing down our input costs.
Apart from the aggregator business, our over-all gross margins are healthy, despite cash-flow pressure from the continuous physical network-expansion activities.
Fund Raising
As we look at the challenges and opportunities ahead, we are quietly confident of getting to US$ 350,000 per month revenue by January 2023 through organic growth. As we continue to scale our physical and digital footprint, we will be engaging with all our current potential investment partners and keep them abreast of our progress.
We have recently been reminded repeatedly, that the investment climate is sullen at the moment, but I and the team are eager to prove that we are one of those companies that are going to emerge out of this challenging period – bigger, stronger, better and happier!!!!
I am more than happy to engage more deeply on topics of mutual interest and would value your inputs and feedback.