In November 2020, Techspace Africa reported that SafeBoda, the Ugandan-headquartered bike-hailing service had exited Kenya citing an unsustainable business environment, now, 2 years later, the ride-hailing app is leaving Nigeria after about two years of operating in the country.
SafeBoda was launched in Ibadan, Nigeria in March 2020 with about 100 drivers and bright prospects.
I have been keenly following the progress the startup made, even publishing Life after Kenya and the ambitious plan to make SafeBoda a ‘Fintech and logistics super app’.
However, It seems like ambition is not actualization despite the company boasting some impressive statistics:
- Completed 1.5 Million trips across Ibadan
- Onboarded 5,000+ drivers
- Enhanced our embedded finance play with the launch of cashless payment, airtime and driver buy-now-pay-later offerings
- Built solid partnerships with companies like Imalipay, Paddycover, Allianz, and a host of others.
In March 2022, the company celebrated crossing 4 million rides, and 50,000 deliveries with over 10,000 riders and 100,000 passengers.
Why SafeBoda has Exited Nigeria
According to the company, the business in Nigeria, “in its current state is not economically viable and unfortunately requires significant investment at this challenging time in the global economic landscape.”
Interestingly, the company launched SafeCar, its car-hailing service in Uganda and Nigeria in September 2022. Even though it is stopping its bike-hailing service, it says SafeCar will still continue as it has grown 40% weekly since its launch in early September.
This is the second country SafeBoda is leaving since it started operations. It exited Kenya in November 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
SafeBoda was founded in 2015 by the director of operations Ricky Rapa Thomson and co-CEOs Maxime Dieudonne and Alastair Sussock. According to business intelligence platform Crunchbase, SafeBoda has raised up to $1.3-million in funding since its launch.
