Ride-hailing companies eyeing to unlock massive business opportunities in West Africa

Ride-hailing Ride-hailingcompanies companies eyeing eyeingto tounlock unlockmassive massive business businessopportunities opportunitiesin in West WestAfrica Africa

• The taxi booking business has rapidly boomed in many countries of the African continent.

Especially countries of the West African region have witnessed big taxi players like Uber expanding their business in the region. • Moreover, it has also seen the emergence of local taxi startups that have done well in many countries of this region.

The West African region consists of many The West African region consists of many countries countrieslike like • • • • • • • • •

Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Togo, Saint Helena,

•Saint Helena, •Niger, •Nigeria, •Gambia, •Senegal, •Sierra Leone, •Mauritania, •Ghana, •Mali.

Taxi Taxibooking bookingmarket marketstats statsof ofWest WestAfrica Africa

• As per Statista, the total revenue in the ridehailing & taxi segment is estimated to reach around US$447m in the year 2020.

• Moreover, the revenue is estimated to exhibit an annual rate of 20.3% (CAGR 2020-2024) which would result in the market volume of US$939m by the year 2024.

• Apart from that the ARPU (average revenue per user) is projected to amount around US$37.70.

Uber Ubereyes eyesthe theWest-African West-Africanmarket market for forexpansion expansion

• Uber- the biggest ride-hailing firm in the world is now eyeing to expand into the region of West Africa. The company is in talks with the regulators to provide their ride-hailing services in the West-African countries. • According to Uber, they have around 36,000 active drivers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Uber has its presence in the regions of South and East Africa but is largely absent from the Western region of the continent except for few countries like Ghana and Nigeria.

• As per the International Monetary Fund, Senegal and Ivory Coast are two of the fastest-growing economies of the world.

• Moreover, Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy and is also the most populous African country.

• Not only Uber, but many other ride-hailing firms have also targeted West Africa for expansion. Uber started its operations in Lagos in July 2014, which is a megacity that has around 20 million people.

• As per United Nations predictions, Nigeria’s population could double by the year 2050 to 400 million people.

• This would make Nigeria the third most populous country after China and India.

• Uber is also facing strong competition in few cities from Estonia from the ride-hailing rival firm Bolt which was earlier known as Taxify.

• Bolt is making a profit by taking a smaller cut from all those drivers who are using their app.

Ride-hailing Ride-hailingininGhana Ghana

• Ride-hailing in Ghana has evolved rapidly over the years. It has become a part of the Ghanian life construct, especially when it comes to Accra, the country’s capital city.

• Let’s have a glimpse at how ride-hailing has been shaping up in the country.

Uber enters Ghana Uber enters Ghana

• Uber entered Ghana in June 2016. Slowly and steadily Uber gained its place in the daily life of people with its convenient alternative for city transport.

• People also accepted Uber’s services as the fares were quite cheap.

Taxify Taxifyemerges emergesas asaarival rival

• One and a half year after Uber’s arrival, Taxify which is now known as Bolt got launched in Ghana in December 2017.

• Taxify’s arrival meant that the ride-hailing business is going to get bigger and bigger in Ghana • Taxify’s arrival brought new dynamics in Ghana’s ridehailing market. Now, the people of Ghana were presented with alternatives to choose from.

• This also brought all the factors that actually account for the real market activity to come into play.

Challenges Challengesfaced facedby bythe therideridehailing hailingindustry industryininGhana Ghana

• The rideshare industry in Ghana has faced a wave of challenges in the past few years. • The first concern is related to those drivers who attempted to circumvent the payment structure of the ride-sharing companies. • Since Uber is the most prominent player, it got affected the most as many of their drivers were indulging in this practice.

• The drivers would simply make the trip offline thus circumventing the need to pay to Uber. • Drivers would also start and stop trips instantly so that they can obtain the fare then, later on, perform the trip outside the platform.

Major Majortaxi taxiplayers playersininWest WestAfrica Africa • Uber • Bolt (Taxify) • Oga Taxi • Jekalo

• Conclusion • A lot is happening in the West African countries as far as ride-hailing is concerned.

• Taxi behemoths are now looking to enter this region so that they can leverage the ever-expanding population and make massive profits.

• At the same time, local companies are also emerging to take their slice of the cake. In the coming years, it will be interesting to see how the landscape of ride-hailing business shapes.

• The next few years will clear the picture as to which ride-hailing company would unlock the enormous business potential in the region.

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