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By Alexis Akwagyiram
LAGOS (Reuters) – Motorcycle taxi companies are developing in West Africa, backed by investors who are betting that the rapid rise of two-wheeled taxi companies in Asia can be replicated in some of the fastest-growing countries in the world. faster in the world.
Four bicycle taxi companies are currently fighting in the streets of Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, and the oldest Nigerian motorcycle taxi company, max.ng, plans to launch in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire this year as well as a fourth Nigerian city.
While informal motorbike taxis have been circulating in Africa for years, the new companies are hoping to gain market share by offering trained and responsible drivers and offering the possibility of booking trips via a mobile application.
As in Asia, companies are also looking to turn their mobile phone applications into one-stop shops offering a multitude of services ranging from electronic payments to shipments and insurance – a strategy that has turned the Indonesian Go-Jek group into an investment of money. $ 10 billion business in less than ten years.
Max.ng's co-founder, Adetayo Bamiduro, said his expansion would be funded by a recent investment cycle, which raised between $ 5 and $ 7 million and a cumulative total of $ 2 million worth of rides. mid-2020, compared to 200,000 in May.
The company started as a motorcycle delivery service in 2015 in Lagos and added a travel tracking app in 2017, as well as credit facilities for potential drivers who want to rent new bikes and pay for them over the course of the year. time.
"What we have done is to look at the market in Nigeria and throughout the region and say 'what parts are missing?' ": The financial infrastructure needed for mobility does not exist, advanced technology for two- and three-wheel mobility does not exist," Bamiduro told Reuters.
Africa has huge potential for motorcycle companies because of the low number of pbadenger cars, the rapid growth of its population, and the lack of efficient mbad transit systems in fast-growing, crowded cities.
LARGEOPPORTUNITY
Known as okadas in Nigeria and Ghana and boda bodas in East Africa, informal taxis for motorcycles are part of the transport fabric in Africa. In Nigeria alone, an estimated 8 million okada drivers, according to Max and his rival Gokada.
Nigeria has the largest economy and largest population in Africa, while Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire are two of the fastest growing economies in the world, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Motorcycle taxi companies in West Africa are small, but investors hope that some of them will be able to replicate the success of Asian unicorns.
"Go-Jek showed what could be achieved in a market like Indonesia, then the Uber and Lyft markets. Initial Public OfferingIt has sparked global interest in mobility, "said Aubrey Hruby, co-founder of Tofino Capital, which invests in emerging-market technology companies.
"People are considering mobility and the next big opportunity," said Hruby.
Bamiduro declined to name investors in the latest round of financing from max.ng, but added that two of them had also invested in the Singapore Grab which, like Go-Jek, has expanded rapidly thanks consumers use smartphones to shop, move and make payments.
In addition to max.ng, the other three companies offering motorcycle taxis in Lagos are Gokada, SafeBoda, which started in East Africa, and ORide.
Gokada is funded by US and Gulf venture capital and venture capital funds, while SafeBoda is funded by Go-Jek and Allianz.
When the German insurance giant's Alliance X digital division announced its investment in SafeBoda in May, it said the company had significant growth potential to develop financial and insurance products.
Founded in Uganda in 2015, SafeBoda was launched in Kenya last year. Babajide Duroshola, who heads operations in Nigeria, told Reuters that the population of this West African country, estimated at 190 million, made it attractive.
In comparison, about 120 million people live in the East African Community, which includes Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
ORide, the latest motorcycle application to enter the Lagos market, is part of OPay, in which the Norwegian software company Opera holds a stake.
The company told Reuters that it hopes that ORide will help its Opera web browser and OPay extend their reach to new services.
E-WALLETS
The idea of booking a motorcycle taxi with a company that has trained drivers and provided a helmet for pbadengers seduces some commuters in Lagos.
Engineer Dayo Omolosho said that he had booked a Gokada pilot with his mobile phone after his car broke down in the Victoria Island business district, partly because he wanted to feel more secure.
"Everyone wants a faster move in Lagos but we are always afraid of the normal okada. You see some people already drunk, they are already high, so you can not control them, "he said, adding that runners working for companies had been trained and were accountable via a clbadification and processing system Complaints.
Okadas residents have been so criticized for their unpredictable driving and accidents that in Lagos, in 2012, Lagos banned motorcycles with a cubic capacity of less than 200 cc from taking the roads. main or bridges crisscrossing the city built around a lagoon.
It was a blow to the informal sector where most motorcycles make about 100 cc. But max.ng and Gokada bought fleets of motorcycles of 200 cm³ answering the legal requirements.
Gokada was launched in Lagos in January 2018 and its bikes and helmets are bright green in the streets of the city.
The founder, Fahim Saleh, who founded the Pathao motorcycle taxicab company in Bangladesh in 2013, said the company plans to launch services in the city of Kano in northern Nigeria, and in the oil hub of the country. Port Harcourt, in the south of the country.
He told Reuters that the expansion into new cities, as well as repair centers and biker training schools, would be funded through the $ 5 million raised this year. Gokada then plans to start deploying other services.
"In the coming months, we will start developing a wallet that would allow you to pay for your travel," he said. "We want to be in all modes of transport. And also food and services – a home delivery hairdresser or a mbadeuse. "
(Report by Alexis Akwagyiram in Lagos, additional report by Angela Ukomadu in Lagos and Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, edited by David Clarke)
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