Trazo: from food-first to lifestyle utility – How OliliFood’s rebrand is rewriting delivery in Nigeria

After six years of building a loyal following in the streets of Asaba and Warri, OliliFood, a food delivery startup, has now officially rebranded to Trazo, signalling that it no longer wants to be known as just a food delivery company. The rebrand to Trazo signals something more deliberate than a fresh identity. 

It signals a deliberate pivot from a food-only delivery platform to an ambitious, multi-category super-app that aims to handle everything from groceries and pharmaceuticals to pedicures, laundry, gas refills, and house cleaning. As co-founder and CEO Nweze Ikechukwu explains, the rebrand was born from necessity: the old name had “outlived its purpose”.

“Olili is an Igbo word; it means ‘food first’,” Ikechukwu says. “It has niched us to just food. Some people felt we are a restaurant where they can walk in and buy food.”

In a country as ethnically and religiously diverse as Nigeria, where names carry weight, the limitation was becoming a barrier to scale.

“Imagine what it will sound like when I want to order a massage session and I tell you to go and use OliliFood,” he laughs.

The new identity, Trazo, is designed to grow with the company’s expanding ambitions.

Trazo is expanding to tier-one cities like Lagos and Abuja

The timing is strategic. After six years of operations in Delta State’s twin cities, Trazo is preparing to enter Nigeria’s hyper-competitive tier-one markets, Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu, and Benin, with longer-term eyes on regional expansion. The company is moving beyond meals into “groceries, pharmaceuticals, and everyday household items”, becoming an all-in-one delivery platform that integrates seamlessly into daily life.

But why now? Ikechukwu points to shifting user behaviour. Customers who once used the app only for hot meals began demanding convenience for essential goods. “The decision to rebrand was driven by changing user behaviour and increasing demand for convenience beyond food delivery,” he explains. Trazo’s leadership saw an opportunity to build a more flexible system that meets a wider range of daily needs and to improve how goods move within and across cities.

What sets Trazo apart in markets already crowded with well-funded players? The CEO is candid: “We don’t have to convince Lagosians to switch from what they use. We have to give them what is different from what they used to know.” While competitors remain heavily focused on food, pharmaceuticals, and groceries, Trazo is engineering speed, payment processing, location accuracy, and broad accessibility into its DNA. “We are trying to make speed a thing, make payment processing a thing, make location accuracy a thing, and also make accessibility to other services a thing,” Ikechukwu says.

The vision is audacious: a single app that functions like a blend of Careem and JustLife, covering “all the major delivery purposes you might ever think of and even beyond”. In a city like Lagos, busy, choked, and home to over 20 million people, the CEO believes time-saving services will resonate deeply. Customers won’t just order food or medication; they’ll schedule barbing, spa sessions, manicures, laundry pickups, or house cleaning. “We are building Trazo to be that lifestyle utility service,” he emphasises.

Market data reinforces the opportunity. Even dominant players such as Chowdeck handle only 30,000 to 40,000 deliveries daily in Lagos. “In a city where you have millions of people, that is less than 1%,” Ikechukwu notes. “The market is very ripe; you don’t even need a differentiator to come in. You just need to come in and give options.” Trazo intends to be one of those compelling options.

Trazo rolls out the “pay-for-me” option

Central to the new platform is the “pay-for-me” feature, a culturally attuned innovation that has already shifted behaviour. Previously, someone outside Asaba wanting to buy a meal for a friend faced a cumbersome process: downloading the app, entering locations, and navigating payments. Now, users simply select items, choose “pay-for-me” at checkout, and generate a unique link. The recipient opens the link and pays seamlessly. 

“Instead of the person that is somewhere else trying to use the app to help process the payment, the person can use the pay-for-me feature,” Ikechukwu explains. The feature has proven especially popular among women, who frequently send links to partners or friends. It doubles as a user-acquisition tool: recipients often sign up themselves. For busy users wary of transferring cash that might not reach its intended purpose, the direct link removes friction entirely.

Operational readiness is equally important. Trazo is not rushing into new categories blind. Asaba is serving as the controlled test ground. “We are rolling out pharmaceuticals and groceries in a few weeks’ time, and everything we have re-engineered is going to be put into practice here in Asaba,” the CEO reveals. Packaging, vehicle types, cold-chain logistics, rider training, and regulatory compliance have all been re-examined by studying global best practices. Mastering these fundamentals in a smaller market, he believes, will provide a decisive edge when scaling to larger, more demanding cities.

Related article: Rising from the ashes: Nweze Emeka’s story of building out of multiple failures 

Riders, the backbone of any delivery service, have not been left out. “The riders are always considered in whatever we do,” Ikechukwu stresses. The company has introduced a hybrid model offering both salary and commission, supported by in-house riders, third-party logistics partners, and a full fleet-management system. “When your riders are properly paid, when they earn more, they work more,” he says. This focus on rider welfare is intended to ensure reliability and quality as order volumes grow.

Enhanced payment options, including wallet functionality, complement the logistics upgrades. Improved routing systems promise faster deliveries for users and better order management for vendors. Together, these changes reflect a company resetting its ambition. The rebrand is “not just a new name, but a reset of ambition”, he declares, one built for scale, relevance, and the future of on-demand commerce.

As Trazo prepares to roll out its new identity and features, the focus remains on execution: onboarding more vendors, expanding locations, and delivering a seamless cross-category experience. From its Delta State stronghold, the company is betting that Nigeria’s delivery market is still vastly under-served. By turning a food-first platform into a true lifestyle utility, Trazo aims to become the go-to app for the everyday essentials and luxuries that busy Nigerians need, delivered with speed, simplicity, and care.