WATCH: Ninja Van’s Martin Cu on expansion plans, fatherhood

MANILA, Philippines – Residents of Metro Manila typically get their online orders in a week or even less. Those in the provinces, unfortunately, have to wait longer.

In an interview with Business Sense, Ninja Van Philippines country head Martin Cu said they are working on a shorter turnaround time by closing the gap on geographic share, with the goal of covering 99% of the country.

“Speed is something that we really care about and obsess over. And I know for every customer that’s ever received a delayed parcel, it may not feel that way. That being said, it’s one of the chief things we track every day,” Cu told Rappler.

“We currently have about 250 stations. I see that station count increasing to between 300 and 350 stations by the end of this fiscal year. It’s quite a significant increase in station count as you can imagine, but I think what’s more relevant than just numbers here is where these stations are being deployed,” he added.

Cu also emphasized that they are improving automation of the logistics process to increase productivity, calling Ninja Van’s conveyor belt system the company’s “most exciting deployment.”

“We will pick up parcels from thousands of consumers all across the country. Those will converge into our sortation centers, where our technology platform is able to take over and really guide the sortation actions happening in the facility to group those parcels for the most efficient route,” Cu said.

“The conveyor belt system automates a big chunk of this work and will massively increase the productivity of our workforce…. The belt, when fully ramped up, will be able to sort hundreds of thousands of parcels every single day.”

Cu also said they are actively expanding to service other client types. Ninja Van is “in discussions” with pharmaceutical companies, and also looking at banking and fintech to add to its portfolio.

Fatherhood

This pandemic, Cu received his most important package: his son.

Cu named his son Parker, a nod to the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. 

“I’ve been collecting comic books since I was a young kid. Spider-Man’s always been one of my favorites,” Cu said.

Cu shared that he has learned a lot about business and fatherhood from his dad, Globe Telecom chief executive officer Ernest Cu.

“He’s always very intimately aware of what’s happening in his business, down to a very deep, deep level. But I hear often from his team, from people that he’s worked with, that he focuses a lot on empowerment and ensuring that decision-making is held at the right level such that the business maintains a lot of agility,” Cu said.

“One of the core values that he preaches is think like an owner…. That level of empowerment really ensures that employees, that managers are able to function with a lot of independence.” – Rappler.com