Around January a friend on social Media posted that Uber is hiring for the Nairobi office.
Uber is an app that connects riders to drivers with the aim of making cities more accessible, opening up more possibilities for riders and more business for drivers. I was actually surprised how they thought about opening an office in Kenya considering how Kenyans use Taxis.Most Kenyans use PSV (Matatus,buses and trains)Fares are subject to the weather, off peak and on peak hours as well as traffic on the roads as well as the distance to be covered.All these conditions are subject to change any day any time and do not wholly depend on one another.
Uber locations of existence are in towns with good infrastructure, laws and regulations and probably order.I read up a review of how users of Uber were disappointed when a cab came to pick them and they had hiked the fare due to the increased demand of the cabs at that particular time(Christmas Eve).In Kenya, fares change subject to nearly everything even a 1 Ksh change in petrol prices.
Nigeria, a country in West Africa, is the country where a homegrown app- Tranzit is changing the Transport platform in the country.It has been named as one of the apps to look out for in Africa-2014 by Venture beat.Tranzit is a free web/mobile enabled transportation and delivery service that enables you to locate interesting, or required places and events based on your location. Its business model is one that will actually work for Africa where few have credit cards, its free, and offers more to the table as compared to Uber.
Here are some strategy questions I am still debating about in regards to Uber:
- what's Uber's strategy in Africa, where roads are PRO traffic :p ,poor road infrastructure(and at times people don't even know what street they are at O_ O) people nearly 90% use PSV. When people compare at times using a taxi to using a motorbike especially when one is in a hurry, or going to locations that PSV are prohibited?
- What changes are they going to make on their business model considering some of the changes are failing in India?
- How they are going to manage with the bad publicity due to the inelastic demand in the market?(Considering Kenya's social Media presence they might trend sooner rather than later)
- In Kenya for example people negotiate fares, wait for PSV vehicles to drop charges for them to board, how will they counter this?
- Most companies have a number of enlisted cab companies to use, where individuals have a *cab guy( This is whereby you have a number of a specific cab guy who you call when you need taxi services, and at times its on debt payable at the end of the month).How will this affect their business model?
