Zesta

Zesta is an online ordering and delivery platform serving the African market. The business began in 2020 under the name Square Eats, founded in Gaborone, Botswana, by twin brothers Henry Newman and Randall Newman. It initially focused on connecting customers with restaurants and facilitating food delivery, gaining early traction in Botswana. The company paused operations in 2022 and used the interruption to reconsider its business model and strategic direction. In 2025, Square Eats announced a rebrand as Zesta. The new identity reflected an ambition to expand beyond restaurant meals and develop into a broader “super app” serving several everyday delivery needs. Under the Zesta concept, customers can use a smartphone application on iOS or Android, or access the service through a website, to browse participating merchants, order products, and arrange delivery. The platform’s stated scope includes restaurant food, groceries, parcels, and other essentials. Its marketplace model depends on relationships with restaurants, shops, and other merchant partners, while delivery is carried out through the platform’s delivery network. The brand’s evolution illustrates a shift from a specialized food-delivery service toward a wider digital-commerce and logistics proposition. Rather than limiting the service to prepared meals, Zesta positions itself as a convenient interface for multiple categories of local commerce and last-mile delivery. The available reference material does not identify a parent company, publicly traded entity, headquarters beyond its Botswana launch location, detailed ownership structure, financial performance, or a confirmed official website. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when the company operated as Square Eats, it introduced safety measures for delivery personnel and customers. These included providing drivers with gloves and hand sanitizer and offering contactless delivery. The initiative addressed hygiene concerns associated with doorstep commerce and helped the service continue operating during a period when delivery platforms became important channels for obtaining food and other necessities. Although the supplied country field identifies Kenya, the authoritative reference for the subject describes Zesta as a Botswana-founded platform launched in Gaborone and operating across the African region. Botswana is therefore used as the subject’s country and principal historical base in this dossier. The available material does not establish a separate Kenyan headquarters or a precise list of current operating countries.

Zesta traces its origins to Square Eats, an online food-ordering and delivery company established in 2020 in Gaborone, Botswana. The founders were twin brothers Henry Newman and Randall Newman, who were 21 when they launched the business. Its initial proposition was straightforward: use a digital platform to connect customers with restaurants and arrange delivery of prepared food. The company quickly gained traction in Botswana and became associated with the country’s developing on-demand delivery market. The business operated during a period in which app-based delivery services were becoming increasingly important to consumers and merchants. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Square Eats adopted measures intended to reduce health risks connected with delivery. Drivers received free gloves and hand sanitizer, and customers could use contactless delivery. These measures helped the platform maintain a safer service model while restrictions and public-health concerns affected conventional restaurant visits and in-person shopping. In 2022, the company halted operations. The pause was described as a strategic decision to reinvent the business rather than simply continue with its original food-delivery focus. This period became a turning point in the brand’s development, creating the basis for a broader service proposition. In 2025, Square Eats announced that it was rebranding as Zesta. The new name accompanied a stated ambition to move beyond restaurant meals and become a super app. The expanded concept covered food, groceries, parcels, and other essentials, allowing the platform to serve more frequent and varied delivery needs. Customers could access the service through mobile applications for iOS and Android or through a website, browse participating merchants, place orders, and receive products at their chosen destination. Zesta’s business model is built around a digital marketplace and last-mile delivery operation. Merchant partners provide the products, while the platform supplies customer discovery, ordering functionality, and delivery coordination. The available reference material presents the company as operating across the African region, but it does not provide a complete country-by-country operating list, current delivery volumes, financial data, ownership details, or a confirmed official website. It also does not establish a separate Kenyan corporate base. Because the subject-specific reference identifies Gaborone and Botswana as the launch location, this dossier treats Botswana as the brand’s historical country of origin despite the supplied input country being Kenya. The rebrand represents a strategic broadening from a restaurant-delivery specialist into a multi-category commerce and logistics platform. Its intended differentiation is convenience across several everyday categories rather than delivery of meals alone. Whether the super-app strategy achieved full regional scale, and the precise status of each service category after the 2025 rebrand, are not documented in the supplied material.

• 2025

  Square Eats becomes Zesta

  [1]Zestaen.wikipedia.org

  The company rebranded as Zesta and presented a broader ambition covering food, groceries, parcels, and other essentials.

• 2022

  Operations are halted for strategic reinvention

  [1]Zestaen.wikipedia.org

  Square Eats paused operations while reconsidering and reinventing its business direction.

• 2020

  Square Eats is founded in Botswana

  [1]Zestaen.wikipedia.org

  Henry Newman and Randall Newman founded the food-ordering and delivery business in Gaborone, Botswana.

• COVID-19 safety measures are introduced

  [1]Zestaen.wikipedia.org

  The company provided delivery drivers with gloves and hand sanitizer and introduced contactless delivery during the pandemic.

A multi-category African ordering and last-mile delivery platform evolving from a food-delivery service into a broader super-app proposition.

• Digital ordering and delivery platform · 2025

  Zesta platform

  Zesta is the brand’s central online marketplace and delivery service. Customers can use mobile applications on iOS and Android, or a web interface, to discover participating merchants, place orders, and arrange delivery. The platform is designed to combine ordering, merchant access, and last-mile fulfillment in one service.

• Food delivery · 2020

  Restaurant delivery

  The original Square Eats proposition and a continuing part of the Zesta concept, restaurant delivery connects customers with participating food businesses and transports prepared meals to their homes or other destinations.

• On-demand commerce · 2025

  Grocery and essentials delivery

  As part of its move toward a super-app model, Zesta expanded its stated scope to include groceries and other everyday essentials sourced from stores and merchant partners.

• Last-mile logistics · 2025

  Parcel delivery

  Parcel delivery is included in Zesta’s broader service proposition, extending the platform beyond consumer food and retail orders into delivery of packages and other items.

• COVID-19 delivery-safety initiative

  Botswana

  While operating as Square Eats, the company supported safer delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic by supplying drivers with free gloves and hand sanitizer and offering contactless delivery.

  Outcome. The measures were intended to protect drivers and customers and reinforce delivery as a trusted way to obtain food during the pandemic.

  Source

• 2025

  Rebrand as Zesta and pursue a super-app modelStrategy

  Background

  The company sought to evolve beyond a narrow restaurant-delivery proposition and serve a wider range of everyday delivery needs.

  Action taken

  Square Eats changed its brand identity to Zesta and expanded its stated service scope to food, groceries, parcels, and other essentials.

  Aftermath

  Zesta was positioned as a broader African ordering and last-mile delivery platform, although detailed post-rebrand operating results are not available in the supplied sources.

  Source

• 2022

  Pause operations to reinvent the businessStrategy

  Background

  The company determined that its existing operating model required strategic reconsideration after its initial period as a food-delivery service.

  Action taken

  Square Eats halted operations and began a business reinvention process.

  Aftermath

  The strategic pause preceded the later rebrand and expansion into a broader multi-category delivery concept.

  Source

1. 1Zestaen.wikipedia.org