February 4, 2026

Walking the Talk: She Delivers and Our Mandate for Inclusion

By Anthony Wainaina, Managing Director.

The logistics industry has always been physically demanding work, and that’s shaped who we’ve traditionally hired. Heavy lifting, long hours on the road, mechanical repairs that require strength and endurance. For decades, the assumption was simple: this is men’s work.

That assumption isn’t entirely wrong. It’s just incomplete.

Two and a half years ago, we started She Delivers Kenya, a women empowerment logistics initiative under the Ponty Pridd She Delivers Hub, not to prove that women can do everything men can do in logistics, but to test a more practical question: where are we actually excluding capable people because of assumptions rather than requirements?

The answer surprised us.

What We’ve Learned About Capability

Sixty-seven women have gone through the She Delivers logistics training for women in Kenya. Not all of them stayed in logistics. Some discovered the work wasn’t for them, which is honest and expected. But most did stay, and they’re performing well in roles we once thought were unsuited to them, including roles now filled by female truck drivers in Kenya and logistics coordinators trained through She Delivers Hub programs.

Here’s what we’ve found: modern logistics in Kenya isn’t what it was twenty years ago. Yes, there’s still heavy lifting and mechanical work, but power steering, hydraulic lifts, and automated systems have changed what the job actually demands day to day. What matters more now is attention to detail, reliability, communication skills, and the ability to manage complex schedules under pressure. These skills have proven vital in supporting women in logistics Kenya and strengthening diversity across the transport sector.

Our women drivers have lower incident rates, which we initially attributed to chance. Two years into the She Delivers Kenya driver training program, the pattern holds. They tend to be more cautious, more methodical in their pre-trip checks, less likely to take unnecessary risks. Is this biological? Cultural? Learned behavior? I don’t know, and frankly, it doesn’t matter. What matters is the operational outcome and the growing impact of female truck drivers Kenya on safety performance.

In dispatch and coordination roles, we’ve seen similar results through She Delivers women transport training initiatives. Women in these positions have improved our client communication measurably. They’re often better at de-escalating tense situations, at reading between the lines when a client has a problem they haven’t fully articulated. Again, this isn’t universal, but the trend is clear enough to be valuable in advancing gender inclusion in logistics Kenya.

Beyond the Optics

The business case for She Delivers Kenya women empowerment program isn’t about solving a labor shortage. Kenya has no shortage of people looking for work. The unemployment rate, particularly among youth, remains high.

The problem is different: we had a mismatch between available talent and industry readiness to absorb it. Logistics firms, including ours, were recruiting from a narrow segment of the population while qualified, capable candidates sat idle simply because they didn’t fit the traditional profile. The She Delivers Hub training initiative helps bridge this gap by preparing women for professional careers in transport and supply chain management.

When we opened She Delivers Kenya, we weren’t creating jobs where none existed. We were removing barriers that kept employable people out of jobs that already existed within the logistics and transport industry.

Expanding our talent pool through logistics training for women in Kenya gave us better options. Women who complete the program stay longer than our historical average, which matters because turnover is expensive. Every time someone leaves, we lose the operational knowledge they’ve accumulated and spend resources training a replacement.

Our safety record has improved, which directly impacts insurance costs and client confidence. Our ESG profile has strengthened, which influences contract decisions with multinational partners who evaluate suppliers on these metrics. These aren’t abstract benefits. They affect our competitiveness and our margins while reinforcing the value of women participation in East Africa logistics sector.

The Work Ahead

She Delivers Kenya has been good for Ponty Pridd, but its real value is in what it demonstrates to the broader industry. Talent shortages aren’t going away. The logistics sector across East Africa is growing faster than our traditional recruitment pipelines can support, increasing demand for female logistics professionals in Kenya and East Africa.

Through the Ponty Pridd She Delivers Hub, we’re producing trained, certified professionals who are ready for employment. Not all of them will work for us. Some are already with competitors. Others have started their own operations. That’s appropriate. The industry benefits when more qualified people are available through women empowerment transport training programs.

To firms looking to expand their workforce, these candidates exist. They’re skilled, they’re reliable, and in many roles, they perform as well or better than traditional hires. The infrastructure for training is in place through our partnerships with the National Youth Service and various technical institutions supporting She Delivers Kenya logistics certification programs.

What Success Looks Like

In ten years, I hope articles like this one seem unnecessary. Not because we’ve stopped caring about inclusion, but because the presence of women in logistics and transport in Kenya will be ordinary enough that it doesn’t warrant special attention.

We’re not there yet. The work continues. But we’ve seen enough to know it’s achievable and worthwhile through initiatives like She Delivers Kenya women logistics empowerment program.

At Ponty Pridd, we move goods across East Africa. We’re also expanding who gets to participate in that work through the Ponty Pridd She Delivers Hub. Both are business priorities that strengthen our operations and position us for sustainable growth.

Walking the Talk: She Delivers and Our Mandate for Inclusion