Yes, you heard right. Ride-hailing startup, SafeBoda, has finally launched in Nigeria, but not in the commercial city of Lagos. The startup has launched in Ibadan, Oyo state, the 3rd most populous city in Nigeria with over 3 million people.
We have been expecting the official launch in Nigeria since we heard of the appointment of Babajide Duroshola, former Community Manager, Technical Talent for Andela who resigned to join SafeBoda as its Country Head in Nigeria in May 2019.
We had also thought that it would kick off in Lagos and wondered how it would compete against the likes of Gokada, Max.ng and OPay’s ORide.
Maybe it was fortuitous that it waited and decided on Ibadan as it would have been a rude shock if and after it launched in Lagos, it was hit with the recent ban on commercial bike-hailing companies that totally messed up the operating environment for the affected companies.
SafeBoda has launched in Ibadan with about 100 drivers and it hopes to change the commercial transport experience in the city.
One hopes that the company obtained the necessary permits and licenses in Oyo state that what happened in Lagos state should not occur in Ibadan.
Founded officially in 2015 in Uganda, SafeBoda has three co-founders:- Rapa Thomson Ricky, Maxime Dieudonne and Alastair Sussock. SafeBoda is currently available in Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria.
If you are in Ibadan, you can download the @SafeBoda_NGA app from your Google playstore for Android: http://ow.ly/oVXt3091Pio or your Apple App store for iOS: http://apple.co/2h4Q9el
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