Uber Africa

LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY TO ENABLE SMARTER LIVING

UBER AFRICA

2 | Africa Outlook issue 87

TECHNOLOGY

Living Smart

When it comes to leveraging technology to provide innovative solutions in people’s lives, global giant Uber is second to none Writer: Dani Redd | Project Manager: Vivek Valmiki

U

ber is a company that most people in the world will have heard of. Not only does it have a net worth of $75 billion, but it is also currently operational in 65 countries, offering innovative transport and rideshare solutions.

“At Uber we have been expanding rapidly across the globe, with the goal to be everywhere and to offer everyone a mobility solution,” says Frans Hiemstra, the firm’s General Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). “However, each market has its nuance, and a one size fits all strategy doesn’t work, especially not in Sub Saharan Africa.

“When we entered the market seven years ago, we knew we were going to be part of one of the world’s richest cultural bio-diversities, with a massive population of well over one billion, and saw this as one of our greatest opportunities.”

The company first launched in SubSaharan Africa in 2013, establishing a presence in Johannesburg. Since

then, it has expanded to operate in seven countries: South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ivory Coast, with Uber Eats available in several South African cities as well as Nairobi.

THINKING GLOBALLY, ACTING LOCALLY One of Uber’s strategies is ‘think global, act local’, which underpins its ambition to provide localised solutions to cities, communities, governments and individuals.

“Uber is solving one of the most prevalent issues faced by people on the continent – unemployment – by effectively leveraging entrepreneurial thinking. Our app has been able to bring a reliable integrated transport solution in some of the cities that require this,” Hiemstra says.

There is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to intercity transport solutions.

Each city has its own unique difficulties, requiring tailormade solutions – something that Uber is aware of.

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UBER AFRICA is testing a new affordable transport option in certain areas called UberNam (Uber with me), which features hatchbacks – cars that are generally cheaper to run and maintain.

“In these difficult times, we want to ensure we deliver more affordable options with the same door-to-door safety standards while unlocking further earning opportunities for driver-partners,” Hiemstra adds.

UNIQUE AND ADAPTABLE The General Manager believes that Uber stands out from the crowd due to its ability to innovatively leverage technology and other owned assets to For example, Lagos (Nigeria’s most populous city) suffers from chronic traffic problems, with the commute between Mainland and Victoria Island taking hours.

“In response to this, for two weeks we piloted UberBOAT, making use of the city’s waterways as a way to cruise past the traffic, and making history for the continent by being the first-ever on-demand water-led transportation option,” Hiemstra says.

Uber has also made UberBODA (motorbikes) available in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, while UberPOA (tuk tuks) are available in Kenya and Tanzania.

“Both options are designed to provide effective transportation methods to our East African community that fits directly into the lifestyle in these markets,” the General Manager says.

In Tanzania, it has also launched Uber by the hour. This enables riders to book a driver-partner and car by the hour, enabling them to get essential errands done all in one go, maximising convenience and minimising social contact.

As well as being responsive to local specificities, Uber is also adept at responding to global and countrywide trends. For example, it noticed that a changing trend in South Africa was that consumers were becoming more price sensitive. In response to this it 6 | Africa Outlook issue 87

supplement income within a city. The Uber app gives drivers the flexibility to decide when and where they work, giving them control of their earning potential and allowing them to fit their current earning opportunities around other commitments, such as education.

“In a region where thousands of jobs are being shed, Uber has produced over 59,000 active and sustainable economic opportunities across SSA,” Hiemstra confirms.

A second differentiator is safety – in Sub-Saharan Africa (and in many other parts of the world), Uber is considered one of the safest modes of

LEADERSHIP FOCUS

Frans Hiemstra Frans Hiemstra joined Uber in 2015 as Head of Driver Operations.

“I have always been passionate about developing businesses in SSA and worked locally and abroad across various industries to gain more experience in this field.

Being at the forefront of solving complex problems has always been something I love, especially within today’s disrupted marketplace,” he explains.

“I was fascinated with the diverse group of innovative and competent people who were driven to create and define sustainable cities of the future to help communities across Africa.”

In June of this year, he took on the role of General Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa. This involved working closely with teams across Uber’s seven countries of operation in the region to build partnerships, leverage technology and adapt to the ‘new normal’ while supporting the needs of users, businesses and communities.

“I am fully committed to the business and our journey in SSA is just getting started. Along with my team, we will continue to build like never before!” Hiemstra adds.

Our journey so far Quite simply the easiest way to make and receive payments from anywhere in the world, Flutterwave has broken barriers in the journey to simplify payments for endless possibilities, in Africa, across emerging markets and globally. They have been able to build a network of payment interconnectedness, spanning 150 currencies, 15 countries, and four continents with the ultimate goal of helping businesses grow.

Flutterwave is able to support businesses at every stage of their growth cycle with features like payment links, Flutterwave Store and Flutterwave Checkout, that support freelancers, small businesses, startups, Scale-ups and enterprise organisations.

At Flutterwave, we handle the most difficult aspect of doing business, which is making and receiving payments. By doing so, we afford our customers the time and freedom to learn, unlearn, create, expand and grow your business. That there, is the foundation of our partnership with Uber in Africa.

“Our mission has always been to simplify payments for businesses in Africa - by doing this, we are able to provide them with the infrastructure to become global businesses from the comfort of the regions.

We enable merchants in countries like Kenya, to conveniently receive payments from their customers in Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda,” explains Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola, Co-founder and CEO of Flutterwave.

Since inception, Flutterwave has raised over $55 million with strategic investors like Greycroft, and global partnerships from fintechs like Worldpay. With over 200,000 merchants globally, and over $8bn processed, they have been listed on CB Insights’ list of 50 future unicorns.

Our partnership with Uber Recently, Flutterwave launched Uber Cash across several countries in Africa in partnership with ride-sharing company, Uber. Part of what Flutterwave offers enterprise partners is speed to market, personalised customer support, flexibility, affordability, security and reliability. These abilities are the driving force in the successful partnership between both companies over the years.

“Our arrangement with UberCash allows riders to top up Uber wallets using the dozens of remittance partners active on our Africa-wide network of payment providers. Uber Cash is available to Uber’s ride-hailing operations in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Ghana, Ivory Coast and Tanzania. We made that possible with our culture of customer-obsession, innovativeness and empathy for our customer’s customer,” says Olugbenga of the partnership.

“What we do is to relieve customers of the work and resources needed to head to market. We give our Merchants access to an infrastructure that connects a majority of the continent’s leading niche payment technologies into one reliable system.”

“All these are made possible by us integrating the most popular payment methods in these regions and making them available to merchants through Flutterwave. We are building the superhighway payments infrastructure for Africa with a stellar team that works tirelessly to achieve our vision,” he adds.

www.flutterwave.com

UBER AFRICA transport. It has incorporated multiple unique features into its app to ensure riders feel safe. For a start, it provides them with information about the car and the driver – including an image of the latter – as well as GPS tracking (so friends and partners can also monitor progress) and even an emergency button.

Q: How important are partner and supplier relationships to the success of your business?

Frans Hiemstra: “Leveraging innovative partnerships and technology is the cornerstone to business survival in any industry.

Our business is all about leveraging our technology to build innovative partnerships and to adapt to the ‘new normal’ while supporting the needs of our Uber users, businesses and communities.

“To date, one of our unique partnerships include our work with Exclusive Books and Uber Eats to deliver bestsellers, and highlights how even non-related brands on different ends of the business to consumer spectrum can work when the opportunity arises via e-Commerce. Partnerships like this diversify an already engaged audience providing a completely new segment of potential sales.

In October, we rolled out a new reimagined experience in the Uber Eats app to users to find exactly what they are looking for—faster, in addition to offering new ordering categories such as groceries, speciality foods, and pet food. Through this redesigned version of the app provides tailored recommendations to the customer.”

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A third differentiating factor is Uber’s focus on community wellbeing. In the Sub Saharan Africa region and beyond, it has always tried to help communities in need during natural disasters through its UberCOMMUNITY initiative.

“Through this initiative, we opened our app to assist the Alexandra township in 2018 which experienced devastating fires that rampaged through the community, destroying at least 500 informal settlements, leaving thousands homeless,” Hiemstra explains. “As a result of this many had lost everything. UberCOMMUNITY was activated to assist the Alexandra residents, by asking for the wider community to use the option on the Uber App to donate any items (food,

toiletries, clothing). All in the attempt to help those who lost everything slowly rebuild.”

The initiative was replicated in 2019 to assist the Durban community when it experienced devastating floods, which swept away many homes in the community.

Finally, to Hiemstra, Uber embodies entrepreneurial evolution.

“While the primary outcome of our business is that our customers get from point A to point B, we have never considered ourselves a transport company,” he explains. “In fact, we don’t even own any vehicles. Rather, Uber is a technology business, and our success stems from our ability to leverage that technology.

“Given how quickly landscapes can change, proven by recent worldwide lockdowns, success in longevity lies in ingenuity and innovation.”

STAYING SAFE Considering that Uber is first and foremost a mobility-based company, it comes as no surprise that it was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent restricted mobility.

Each country it operated in had different regulations and its own set of challenges that it needed to overcome.

“It became a litmus test; not only for global leaders, national governments, and the frontline workers stepping up to protect the communities they serve, but also for businesses and their

leaders. We needed to find ways to adapt the business models to ensure we respond to the ‘new normal’, which is why globally we are concentrating our efforts on our core mobility and delivery platforms,” the General Manager explains.

During the pandemic it remained agile by focusing on its food delivery service, Uber Eats, which increased in popularity as many food businesses were forced to provide takeaway services instead of sit-in dining. It also launched two new product offerings in the region – Uber Connect and Eats Essentials.

Uber Connect was launched during lockdown, aiming to keep users connected by allowing them to send Africa Outlook issue 87 | 9

UBER AFRICA packages to family friends as well as business delivery needs via the Uber app, which encouraged social distancing. Meanwhile, Eats Essentials was launched during South Africa’s 21 day lockdown, when even fast food takeaways were closed – it partnered with food outlets and pharmacies to deliver essential suppliers to customers who needed it. Uber Cash – a contactless/cashless payment option – was also launched in June to encourage social distancing.

“We realise that coronavirus has devastated many communities around the world by crippling economies and reducing the few earning opportunities available. Since the outbreak, we have partnered with organisations around the world to Move What Matters - free meals or rides to frontline workers, delivery of essential medicine to homebound patients and food parcels to those most vulnerable,” Hiemstra says.

Steps for safety To protect health during the pandemic, Uber is adopting the following measures: RIDER SAFETY: Uber has maximised seating capacity at 50 percent per vehicle, and riders need to sit in the back seat to encourage physical distancing between riders and drivers.

SUPPORTING PUBLIC HEALTH AUTHORITIES: A team is available 24-seven to help public health authorities respond to the pandemic.

SCIENTIFICALLY-BACKED RESPONSES: Uber is consulting with an epidemiologist to ensure its company efforts are grounded in medical advice.

HELPING AFFECTED DRIVERS AND DELIVERY DRIVERS: Anyone diagnosed with COVID-19 or asked to self-isolate by a public health activity will receive 14 days of financial assistance from Uber. During selfisolation their account must be suspended.

KEEPING CARS CLEAN: Uber is partnering with manufacturers and distributors to source as many cleaning products as possible, to ensure cars are kept clean.

DELIVERY OPTIONS: There are now options for socially distanced food delivery – you can ask your Uber Eats driver to leave the food on your doorstep.

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For example, in South Africa it partnered with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Western Cape Department of Health to deliver chronic medication to those unable to visit local clinics.

Uber also had to ensure the safety of users. “During this time our focus has been supporting our drivers and delivery people with the information they need to stay safe,” the General Manager explains.

“In this period we have made significant safety upgrades to the app. We rolled out a number of new features and policies to help ensure their health and well-being while operating across our platform, including info in-app, no-contact delivery, providing them with masks and sanitising reimbursements, and more.”

The company also needed to ensure social distancing across its offices as

TECHNOLOGY

TECH FOR SAFETY SUMMIT During October, Uber hosted its second annual Tech for Safety summit in Johannesburg, where politicians, thought leaders, researchers and businesses converged to discuss how technology may be leveraged to create innovative safety solutions.

Although it was an ‘in person’ event, strict COVID-19 protocols were adhered to ensuring guest safety, the summit was adjusted to the new normal and allowed virtual attendees from across SSA to take part in the conversation.

The event featured a keynote address, panel sessions and an innovative hackathon battle or ‘Pitching Den,’ where startups pitched their ‘tech for safety’ ideas to an expert judging panel. The winner was Keletso Lekwakwe, creator of Password Kid – he will receive a year-long immersive support programme from Innovate Durban.

a way of helping ‘flatten the curve’.

Since March 6, it has requested that its global workforce make the move to homeworking, as a way to slow down the spread of the virus.

“While there were challenges, we were presented with a unique opportunity, to look at other ways we can

help businesses and riders ‘Move What Matters’ by leveraging our technology to find solutions for business, individuals and communities,” Hiemstra says.

The General Manager knows that the coronavirus will be here for a while, and that any plans for the upcoming year must take it into account. Uber

will concentrate efforts on core mobility and delivery platforms in a safe and reliable manner.

It will also be expanding into new markets with its Uber Eats app, enabling more customers to have a wide variety of food options. Furthermore, it hopes to roll out its affordable ride solution, UberNAM – initially piloted in Johannesburg and Cape Town – across more cities in the country.

In short, the company will continue to do what it has always done: to create innovative mobility solutions that enable business growth while economically uplifting communities in a secure, sustainable manner.

UBER AFRICA www.uber.com/za/en

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UBER AFRICA Support for drivers: 0800172957 Support for riders: 0800172956 Email media: press@uber.com, Email: support: support@uber.co.za www.uber.com/za/en/

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