Ugandan motorcycle-hailing startup– SafeBoda has officially commenced operations in Nigeria. This comes a few months after the startup initially proposed a launch in early 2020. Prior to this, the startup had been giving small hints on its plans to expand to Nigeria.
Babajide Duroshola, Andela’s ex community manager, who is the country manager in a tweet announced job roles in Ibadan, Abeokuta, and Kaduna while opening a physical office in Ibadan.
Now, that the company has completed all technicalities required for launch, it can now start operations in the country. Unlike other motorcycle-hailing platforms that first launched in Lagos before expanding elsewhere, SafeBoda has taken a different approach, launching in another south-western city — Ibadan, with routes around Eleyele, Sango, Bashorun/Gate, UI, Poly, Bodija, New Bodija, Agodi, Ijokodo, UCH, Mokola, Dugbe and Jericho.
Safeboda has been limited by the tough laws and regulations of the Lagos state government towards motorcycle-hailing startups, one Duroshola says influenced the company’s decision to launch in Ibadan. Duroshola told Techpoint that;
The reason why we decided to launch in Ibadan instead of Lagos is that the latter isn’t Okada friendly. They all but said it before the ban so we figured it wasn’t the best decision which made us go back to the drawing board,
This means it is uncertain if the orange-branded motorcycle-hailing company will launch in Nigeria’s largest city. Safeboda faces stiff competition from other players like ORide and Max.ng, it will be interesting to see how SafeBoda performs in this market with already established players.
In terms of the fleet of motorcycles, Duroshola says that although the company has launched with a few hundred motorcycles, the amount of requests it has had so far means it will need to supply more motorcycles to meet demand.
