Ride-hailing firm, Uber, said Thursday plans were underway with regulators in Nigeria to expand into boat service in Lagos. Similar plans were also in the works for Abidjan, in Cote d’Ivoire, and Dakar, the capital of Senegal, it said.
Giving the reasons for the choice of these countries, Brooks Entwistle, Chief Business Officer, Uber, said Ivory Coast and Senegal have two of the world’s fastest-growing economies according to the International Monetary Fund, while Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, is also the continent’s most populous nation.
“We have talked about West Africa today as being a big growth priority for us and launch priority for us moving forward,” he said.
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Recently, Uber launched boat services in Mumbai, India. Some motorcycle ride-hailing platforms have also targeted markets on the continent as an area for expansion in the last few months.
“It is in its early stages and we think there is high relevance here in Lagos,” he said.
Entwistle said Lagos was one of the great growth opportunity cities in the world noted that the company also held discussions with a bus firm and regulators in Lagos. Noting that talks were in line with a global push by the company to develop products that can work alongside public transit systems
Recently, days after the successful completion of $5.3 million Series A funding from investors, another on-demand bike-hailing startup, Gokada, announced plans to expand with the launch of yacht boat services called GBoat, in Lagos.
According to Gokada, the boat service will provide comfortable transportation services while helping commuters to beat traffic. According to the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency, Lagos is home to over 24 million residents with over 2 million vehicles plying the roads daily.
According to Gokada, the pilot scheme is targeted at commuters who ply between Lekki and Ikorodu axis.
Potential in water transportation services remains largely untapped in Lagos, while few current operators do not provide top-notch services to commuters, issues of safety have also plagued these operators as cases of boat mishaps claiming lives are occasionally recorded.
