Food affordability depends on logistics and power as well as farm output. National World Bank analysis identifies storage and cold-chain constraints as priorities; Lagos pilots need their own route-level evidence.
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THE PLACE BEHIND THE OPPORTUNITY
Editorial thesis: Lagos rewards products that save time and protect operating margins across fragmented service networks. A credible impact case must show who pays, which incumbent livelihoods change and whether households actually retain the savings.
Lagos is a compelling operating laboratory because public and private service networks interact closely. World Bank research on its bus rollout finds that minibuses adjusted routes and frequency when public services entered, creating different effects for different commuters. Its reported 62% minibus trip share belongs to the research setting, not a live 2026 mobility dashboard. The broader lesson is useful across markets: an entrant changes the surrounding network. Model the response of drivers, traders and distributors instead of assuming an isolated product rollout.
Visuals reproduce the cited signal, including its original scope. Rounded unit graphics are reading aids; the displayed figure and source definition govern the claim.
02 / FOLLOW THE SYSTEM
Where Lagos can begin.
A proposed operating map for food systems. Read the handoffs before choosing a product to build.
Food system
01
Grow & aggregate
02
Store & transport
03
Procure & prepare
04
Distribute & consume
05
Recover safe surplus
THE BUYER QUESTION
Produce wholesalers, small supermarkets and commercial kitchens with predictable weekly demand. Include the market intermediaries who already aggregate supply rather than designing around them.
THE EXPERIMENT
Follow one product from receipt to sale across two trader groups for four weeks, then test consolidated deliveries and handling standards for another four.
Read the complete value chain
Grow and aggregate
Store and transport
Procure and prepare
Distribute and consume
Recover safe surplus
Editorial system map derived from the research brief. The sequence is a framework for discovery, with no claim that a Pheonix programme, customer or pilot is operating.
Food affordability depends on logistics and power as well as farm output. National World Bank analysis identifies storage and cold-chain constraints as priorities; Lagos pilots need their own route-level evidence.
RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS · TO VALIDATE LOCALLY
The opportunity
Hypothesis: reduce rejected perishable deliveries through pooled ordering, reusable handling equipment and clear quality checks for one urban food corridor, before investing in permanent cold stores.
An impact claim should survive a difficult question. Design the measurement before you design the success story.
01
Establish the baseline
Start in Lagos. Define the people, geography and existing service before measuring a change.
02
Run a bounded pilot
Use the proposed experiment above as a starting question. Agree the local scope, duration, comparison and safeguards before beginning.
03
Compare the outcome
Ask what would have happened otherwise. Compare like with like and record how much uncertainty remains.
WHAT TO MEASURE
The outcome ledger
LOCAL OUTCOME MEASURE
Track saleable kilograms, rejection rates, delivered cost, vendor net margin and the price paid by the final buyer.
↳
Keep the counter-evidence.
Large purchasing platforms can concentrate bargaining power. Preserve transparent grading, prompt supplier payment and an alternative sales channel; validate food-safety requirements with competent local operators.
Proposed measurement pathway. No baseline, pilot result, participant count or achieved impact is being reported in this diagram.
PUT IT IN PERSPECTIVE
The global market context.
FAO’s 2026 food-security report estimates that 645 million people faced hunger in 2025 and that healthy diets remain unaffordable for about 2.7 billion people. These describe different problems and cannot be added together.FAO and partner UN agencies
UNEP’s 2024 Food Waste Index estimates 1.05 billion tonnes of food waste at retail, food-service and household level in 2022, including inedible parts. This is distinct from losses earlier in the supply chain.UNEP
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