Zipline to build 12 new hubs in Nigeria as part of major African market expansion

Drone logistics company Zipline plans to build 12 additional distribution hubs across Nigeria, expanding its network from three operational centres to 15 nationwide as it scales its healthcare delivery operations across the country.

The company’s Nigeria Country Director, Anthonio Pinheiro, disclosed that the expansion aims to connect up to 20,000 health facilities and improve access to healthcare commodities for nearly 100 million Nigerians by 2028.

Zipline currently operates in Kaduna, Cross River, and Bayelsa states, where it says it serves more than 1,300 health facilities and about six million people through autonomous drone deliveries of vaccines, blood supplies, anti-venom, malaria medication, and other medical products.

According to Pinheiro, the company is shifting from isolated state-based drone pilots to a broader national logistics infrastructure strategy. Instead of negotiating separate deployments with individual states, Zipline is now pursuing a federal-scale framework that would allow easier integration into a nationwide autonomous delivery network.

The company said the expansion is being supported through partnerships involving Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health and the United States government, which backed Zipline’s operations in five African countries through a grant initiative.

Pinheiro described Zipline as an AI robotics infrastructure company rather than simply a drone delivery startup, noting that its logistics system relies heavily on artificial intelligence, robotics, automated distribution hubs, cold storage systems, and inventory tracking technology.

He added that while healthcare remains the company’s primary focus, future expansion could include agriculture, animal health, e-commerce, and broader logistics services.

From drone pilots to national infrastructure

Zipline said its operations are helping to address persistent medical supply chain problems across rural Nigeria, where hospitals and clinics frequently face shortages of vaccines, blood supplies, and essential medicines.

The company claimed that vaccine stockouts in supported areas have reduced significantly, while maternal mortality rates in supported facilities have dropped by more than 50 percent due partly to faster blood deliveries.

Pinheiro cited examples where emergency medical products, including anti-venom for snakebite victims, were delivered to remote hospitals within less than an hour after requests were made.

He explained that the company’s model allows hospitals to avoid maintaining large inventories and expensive storage facilities, as supplies can be delivered on demand within 30 to 45 minutes in some cases.

According to him, the broader ambition is to create a nationwide healthcare logistics network capable of solving Nigeria’s long-standing last-mile delivery challenges, particularly in riverine and hard-to-reach communities.

Solar-powered hubs and regulation challenges for Zipline

Pinheiro also noted that Zipline’s facilities in Kaduna and Cross River operate fully on solar power with backup systems, reducing reliance on Nigeria’s unstable electricity grid and cutting diesel consumption.

He argued that while drone operations are often perceived as expensive, the company’s infrastructure reduces transportation, storage, and operational costs for healthcare providers and state governments.

Despite concerns around drone regulation and security restrictions, Pinheiro said Nigeria’s aviation and government regulators have become increasingly collaborative in supporting autonomous aviation infrastructure, especially following lessons from the COVID 19 pandemic about healthcare access in remote communities.

According to him, the pandemic exposed major healthcare access gaps outside urban centres such as Lagos and Abuja, reinforcing the need for faster and more reliable delivery systems for essential medical supplies.

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