15 years of operations in global groups. 18 months alongside customs brokers in Matadi, Luanda and Lomé. One conviction: software designed for Hamburg or Rotterdam doesn't work for African ports.
Before Surestaria, our founder spent nearly fifteen years in the operations of international groups: Johnson & Johnson in healthcare, Kodak in professional imaging, LaunchMetrics in B2B tech. Three different industries, one shared reality: the supply chain drives profitability, clean data makes the difference between a healthy margin and a collapsed one, and automating friction points translates directly to the bottom line.
The move to Angola was the trigger. Working alongside freight forwarder firms on the Lobito – Luanda – Namibe corridor, the observation was immediate: market software — designed in Hamburg, Rotterdam, Antwerp — is unusable on African ports. Free time policies specific to local carriers, dual USD / Kwanza invoicing imposed by the National Bank, port terminals without network coverage, customs regimes (DGDA in DRC, AGT in Angola, Sydonia elsewhere)… no European software absorbs that complexity without degrading operations.
For 18 months, we worked directly with customs brokers in Matadi, Luanda, Lomé and Pointe-Noire. Not in conference rooms: in their offices, on terminals, in customs cabins. Beside the declarant who re-types the same information into three different systems. Beside the operator who discovers on Friday evening that a container has been in demurrage since Tuesday. Beside the leader closing the month on a spreadsheet shared between five people.
Surestaria is not a software adapted to Africa. It is a software designed in Africa, from line one of code.
African freight forwarders lose tens of thousands of dollars every year in unanticipated demurrage, mis-calculated margins, late-issued invoices, forgotten debit notes. Not from incompetence: from lack of an adapted tool. An Excel spreadsheet will never tell you a container is about to switch to penalty in 48 hours. Surestaria does.
Our conviction: African maritime digitalization will not be done by European publishers who marginally adapt an existing product. It will be done by teams who speak Kiswahili, Português and French, who know the operational difference between OGEFREM and OCC, who understand what cabotage transit through Boma implies, and who have spent time standing on the port of Abidjan.
This is the team we have built. This is the approach that guides every product decision.
Seven structuring choices that make Surestaria the software for African freight forwarders.
Specs written with freight forwarders from DRC, Angola, Ivory Coast, Cameroon. Not a translated European product.
French, Português, English, Kiswahili. Interface, PDF reports, notifications, exports — all translated.
The QR scanner works 100% without network. Built for African port terminals where 4G doesn't reach.
USD, EUR, CDF, AOA, XAF, XOF. Historized rates, dual BCC / National Bank invoicing, compliant accounting reports.
DGDA, AGT, Sydonia, OGEFREM, OCC pre-configured. Workflows compatible with each port's procedures.
Multi-tenant architecture, PostgreSQL Row-Level Security, TLS encryption, daily backups.
Configuration, reference data import, workflow setup, on-site employee training. You start operational.
Surestaria is not a software you download and configure alone. It is set up by our team. We configure your organization, import your reference data (clients, suppliers, customs codes, carrier tariffs), set up your specific workflows and train your employees — at the office for declarants, on the terminal for scanner operators.
You start with a software operational on your real case, not with a manual to read. Our support team is reachable in French, Português and English, on WhatsApp and email, with extended hours covering East to West Africa.
Personalized demo on your real case, within 24h, in French, Português or English.
Request a demo