The Country Director for Zipline in Kenya, Charles Kariuki, during The Star Science Translation National Congress in Nairobi on October 22, 2025. Photo/ Courtesy.
Zipline Kenya Country Director CHARLES KARIUKI explains how
the company is using drone technology to transform access to medical and
essential supplies in four counties in the Lake region. He highlights how the future might look,
including expansion into animal health and eventual home delivery for foods and gadgets that you buy online, within minutes. He spoke with Star’s John
Muchangi.
QUESTION: Sometimes, a mother is
bleeding to death in a hospital with no blood, and the nearest supply is two
hours away. Zipline says it can solve that. How?
ANSWER: Absolutely. Emergency deliveries are a core part of our
work, but not the only thing we do. For an emergency, blood is the best example. Obstetric
emergencies, especially postpartum haemorrhage, require immediate transfusion.
Traditional transport can take hours due to distance, terrain, or lack of
ambulances. Zipline delivers within minutes.
We also deliver antivenoms, antimalarials, oxytocin, rabies
post-exposure prophylaxis, adrenaline, and other emergency medications. Health
workers often tell us our deliveries have saved lives they would otherwise have
lost.
Many of us only know
the emergency delivery component of Zipline’s work. Can you tell us about
your operations in Kenya?
Zipline is the largest autonomous logistics company
in the world, ensuring that people everywhere can access the goods they need
when and where they need them. We have been in Kenya for about three years. We
began setting up in 2022 at Chemelil, Awasi, but operations did not kick off
until a year later due to regulatory approvals.
We use drones to deliver a wide range of products, including
sensitive medical commodities, which require extensive approvals from the
Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), the Ministry of Defence, the Kenya Air Force,
and the Ministry of Interior. We also operate a world-class distribution centre in
Kisumu with cold-chain infrastructure, all Pharmacy and Poisons Board-approved,
and staffed by licenced pharmacists.
We distribute essential and non-essential medicines, blood
(including components such as frozen plasma), and vaccines. Our core customers
are health facilities, mostly public ones, since about 70–80 per cent of health
facilities in Kenya are government-owned.
From our Kisumu distribution centre, which has a coverage
radius of about 38,000 square kilometres, we can serve all 14 counties in the
Lake Region Economic Bloc. Currently, we are serving Kisumu, Homa Bay, Kericho,
and Nyamira counties.
Why only four
counties so far?
Onboarding a county is a rigorous process. We start with the
governors, then the CECMs for Health, chief officers, directors of health, and
the County Health Management Team. After county approval, our GIS team maps
facilities to determine which ones fall within drone range and safe airspace.
Zipline drones have a 100 km one-way range (200 km round
trip). But we cannot fly through certain “keep-out zones,” including restricted
airspace around airports or military installations. Kisumu International
Airport, for example, takes up a large area that we must avoid.
Once safe routes are identified, we conduct community
engagement so people understand the technology and don’t assume drones are
surveillance tools. Facilities are then trained on ordering, receiving, and
verifying deliveries.
How do health facilities place orders and receive
deliveries?
Facilities order via a toll-free phone number or WhatsApp.
Each facility has a pre-confirmed drop zone. When the drone is five minutes
away, the staff receive automatic alerts. The drone slows, opens its hatch, and
drops the package using a biodegradable parachute.
Once a package arrives, staff verify delivery by scanning a
QR code or using USSD. Zipline does not send deliveries unless orders have been
double-checked by our fulfilment team. Fragile items like vaccines are
specially packaged to maintain potency and avoid breakage.
What teams run your
distribution centre?
We have two major teams: First is the fulfilment team that
comprises pharmacists, clinicians, and trained staff who handle medical
inventory, vaccines, and blood products.
Second is the flight operations and engineering staff who
assemble and maintain drones, manage batteries, and oversee launches and
returns.
We also handle animal health products. Rwanda uses Zipline
for Artificial Insemination in pigs with great success, and Kenya has a huge
livestock sector. With our cold-chain infrastructure, we can deliver vaccines
and AI semen reliably and at the correct temperature.
Apart from fast delivery, of course, what other benefits do
you bring to counties?
Zipline reduces both overstocking and understocking.
Overstocking leads to expiry and financial losses. Understocking leads to
patient frustration and loss of trust in facilities, especially for mothers
seeking vaccines.
When a mother travels to a clinic and finds no vaccine, she
may never return, contributing to zero-dose children. Zipline ensures
facilities always have what they need, when they need it.
Reliable supply also strengthens the system upstream. When
counties avoid stock-outs, they stop relying on private suppliers, some of whom
have been linked to counterfeit products. This restores trust in public health
facilities and the wider medical supply chain.
How many deliveries
have you made in Kenya so far?
We have completed close to 25,000 flights in Kenya,
delivering more than 400,000 vaccine doses, nearly 2,000 units of blood, and
impacting more than one million lives.
We also support blood drives in schools and communities.
Once collected, the blood is screened by the Regional Blood Transfusion Centre.
They keep half, and the other half is delivered via Zipline to hospitals as
needed.
Zipline team assemble deliveries at the distribution centre in Kisumu City, Kenya.
Do you have Kenya-specific impact data yet?
Our monitoring and evaluation team is finalising Kenya’s
impact report. But global studies show clear benefits. In Rwanda, blood wastage
dropped by over 60 per cent, and maternal mortality decreased significantly in
hospitals using Zipline. In Ghana, missed vaccinations dropped markedly. We expect similar outcomes for Kenya.
Tell me about the speed and capacity of your drones.
A Zipline drone carries up to three kilogrammes. It flies at
speeds of about 120 kilometres per hour, reaching facilities in five to 45
minutes, depending on distance. A single distribution centre can complete 150
deliveries in 12 hours, or up to 300 if run for 24 hours.
In Rwanda, one centre does more than 400 deliveries per day.
The scale is enormous when you consider the tonnage of medical products moved
daily.
How many people does Zipline employ in Kenya?
We have more than 40 employees in Kenya, plus others
supporting the African region. Each distribution centre needs at least 30
staff, scaling as deliveries increase.
Across Africa, Zipline employs 400 to 500 people, all
locals. At our Kisumu hub, around 60 per cent are women, and most are under 30.
We hire graduates straight from university, train them, and provide growth
opportunities. Many have risen through the ranks or moved to senior roles
elsewhere.
How do you work with regulators like KCAA?
We work very closely with all regulators. Kenya’s drone
sector is young, and regulators must prioritise safety. Every route requires
multi-agency approval involving KCAA,the Ministry of Defence, the Interior, the Kenya
Wildlife Service, and the Kenya Air Force.
This ensures safe airspace but can slow expansion. We have
proposed an “area approval” model, where regulators approve large blocks of
airspace instead of individual routes. This would greatly accelerate access for
underserved areas.
KCAA also performs periodic audits and annual licence
renewals, and Zipline complies fully.
What about communities? Are people concerned about noise
levels, or think the drones are doing secret surveillance?
Zipline drones are relatively quiet compared to traditional
aircraft. During community engagement, most residents express curiosity rather
than concern.
As long as people understand what the drones are delivering,
especially blood, vaccines, and emergency drugs, the acceptance is
overwhelmingly positive. Occasionally, people ask if drones are cameras or
surveillance tools. We explain clearly that they do not have cameras and cannot
record anything. Transparency is key.
Many Kenyans also associate drones with security risks.
We engage local leaders, chiefs, elders, and community
health promoters before activating any route. We show people the drones,
explain how they work, and allow them to touch and inspect the packages.
Zipline drones carry no cameras, weapons, or surveillance
devices. They cannot hover; they follow a fixed flight path and glide across
the sky silently.
All safety systems are automated. Drones rarely crash, and
if they do, we have standard protocols, including immediate retrieval by
trained staff and automatic reporting to regulators.
How do you handle weather disruptions?
Our drones can withstand rain, heat, and moderate winds. But
extreme conditions may delay launches. We rely on real-time weather monitoring
and have radio operators on site. Each drone performs nearly 600 automated
safety checks before takeoff.
If a drone aborts a flight due to weather, we immediately
dispatch another to minimise delays.
What expansion plans do you have in Kenya?
We will announce details soon. Several counties across
central, southern, and northern Kenya have requested our services. Our goal is
to expand significantly so that more Kenyans benefit from reliable deliveries
of medical and essential supplies.
I understand you also do discreet HIV deliveries. How does that work?
Adolescents and young adults living with HIV often face
stigma, and many do not consistently visit facilities for refills. Zipline’s
discreet delivery model allows clinics to receive ARVs and related commodities
quickly and confidentially.
We don’t deliver directly to individuals; we deliver to
health facilities or outreach points. But the speed, reliability, and privacy
around stock availability make a big difference.
Under the Elton John AIDS Foundation project, we supported
HIV testing, screening, and delivery of prevention tools. We worked with
community health promoters who engaged young people in schools, markets, and
other youth spaces. Once someone tested positive, we helped ensure the clinic
always had their medication in stock.
We interacted with more than 100,000 adolescents and young
adults during that period.
But do you envision home deliveries in Kenya anytime soon?
Yes, that is the long-term vision. Globally, Zipline’s
Platform 2 delivers to homes and businesses using a small, quiet droid that
lowers to a doorstep. This is active in the US and Nigeria. Kenya will
eventually adopt it as regulations evolve.
The demand will be enormous in e-commerce, food delivery,
pharmaceuticals and emergency supplies. For now, our priority is strengthening
the medical supply chain.
How do you charge counties for services? What is the
business model?
Counties purchase delivery credits in bulk. For example, a
county can buy a package of 3,000 deliveries, valid for a fixed period.
Facilities then make unlimited orders within the available credits.
This model gives counties predictable costs and flexibility.
It also ensures that facilities are not charged per item, only per delivery. We
do not mark up drug prices. All commodities come from the counties’ own
suppliers (KEMSA or others). We simply deliver.