Ride-hailing firm SafeBoda has started hiring for its operations in Nigeria, which will be its third country of operation in Africa.
Now five-years-old, the company first tested its international capability by launching in Kenya in mid-2018. The expansion to Kenya was followed, a few months later, by its roll-out of an engineering hub in Barcelona to bolster its technical team.
Now, after registering commendable growth in the Kenyan market (with over 600 riders as of Jan. this year) and still a leader in the Boda-hailing business in Uganda, SafeBoda wants to expand its services to West Africa’s most populated country.
One of the key positions SafeBoda Nigeria is hiring for is that of Customer Acquisition Lead who’ll ensure that the Ugandan-grown company, among other things, “is the most innovative company in the transportation space in Nigeria.”
According to another statement shared by Kaouru Kaganoi, head of expansion at SafeBoda, they are also hiring a Product Support Assistant who “will work with our [SafeBoda] product team in collaboration with some of our other department to provide technical support and assistance and act as the bridge between engineering and customer.”
The company in a statement to this website could not commit on when they’re launching in the populous Nigerian market.
“We do not have definite dates yet, but you will be the first to know when we are good and ready,” Eunice Among, the head of customer at SafeBoda, wrote in an eMail response.
However, the posts advertising the vacancies indicate that the Customer Acquisition Lead is to begin work in May while the Product Support Assistant is to kick off work immediately.
Asked why they picked Nigeria, Among added: “Yes, we are exploring other cities in Africa. Lagos- Nigeria, being one of those.”
Unlike in Kenya and Uganda where the motorcycle taxi-hailing business is very competitive, in Nigeria, most, if not all, ride-hailing companies offer car-hailing services. The Nigerian market is dominated by Uber and Bolt though there are other apps like GidiCab, Oga Taxi, PamDrive, RideMe Taxi, RideOn, and Pair.
However, if SafeBoda Nigeria succeeds, these apps could decide to compete with it in helping people summon commercial motorcycles. And some could have a competitive advantage since they have some appealing features SafeBoda doesn’t have.
For instance, GidiCab allows trip borrowing, booking future trips, ability to see trip fare live on-the-go, etc.; RideMe Taxi has an option for booking only female drivers; Pair offers a subscription service
SafeBoda food delivery
Meanwhile, the company is also hiring fourteen interns to prepare the company for its food delivery service.
SafeBoda has named the service Cha’Kula and people will use it to order for lunch. This will put SafeBoda in position to compete with UberEats in Kenya, Jumia Food and other logistics firms. Bolt has also expressed interest in the food delivery business in Africa.
