By Pascal Oparada
It is becoming a crowded space in bike ride-hailing business in Nigeria as new entrants are jostling for commuters’ attention behind market leaders like Gokada and Max.ng.
Government’s efforts to regulate the bike transport business, popularly called Okada, in cities like Lagos, has failed as the obstinate riders keep defying ban after ban.
In congested cities like Lagos in Nigeria and Manila in the Philippines, where Angkas and Gokada are making waves, ingenious entrepreneurs have cashed in on both the demand for faster means of transport and government’s failure to tighten regulation.
The result is now high tech-driven means of transportation, albeit bike ride-hailing services.
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New entrants like Oride and OPay are trying to steal the shine from the ubiquitous Gokada and Max.ng and many new others who have taken the centre stage in the business.
What this means is that the chaotic world of Okada riders is getting organised. It also means that we have come to accept Okada as veritable means of transportation.
Experts believe there’s nothing wrong with that as long as they remain organised and properly regulated by the government.
In the Philippines and parts of Europe, bikes are gradually becoming the new normal in transportation.
Uber began offering a two-wheel transit option in East Africa in 2018, around the same time Bolt (previously Taxify) started motorcycle taxi service in Kenya.
Pioneers in Nigeria, Gokada and Max.ng, recently raised over $5.7 million and $7 million respectively in Venture Capital. What this means is that there’s money to be made in the business.
The Co-CEO of Gokada and co-founder of Jobberman, Ayodeji Adewunmi, said Gokada has done over one million rides and have about 1,000 motorcycles and pilots on its platform. He said the company plans to double the number in cities like Lagos.
“Because of the pent up demand, we have to go to the market to raise capital and also increase the number of fleets, the number of rides and, potentially, move across different cities in Nigeria,” Adewunmi said.
He said the aim of launching Gokada is to reduce the number of time commuters spend in traffic thereby increasing their productivity.
Unlike other ride-hailing services like Uber and Bolt (Taxify), Gokada does not do revenue sharing. It charges its pilots a flat rate of N3,000 (around $8) daily to work on its platform.
Clement Oche, one of the pilots on Gokada platform, said he makes over N10,000 ($28) daily on the platform, which for him is better than paid employment.
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“Working on Gokada platform has afforded me the opportunity to become financially independent. On the flip side also is the fact that I can choose to work anytime I want to,” Oche said.
According to him, Gokada charges them a flat rate of N3,000 ($8) daily and is not based on a revenue-sharing formula, as Uber and Bolt do with their drivers.
The founder of Gokada, Fahim Saleh, who co-founded and exited a similar venture, Pathao, in Bangladesh, said the aim is to create an Amazon Prime-type membership and ecosystem around the driver “where we are going to provide them more and more services, such as motorcycle insurance, maintenance, personal life insurance, and micro-finance.”
“We’re trying to provide a network of great services for our drivers that makes them stick with us, and not necessarily see a reason to switch to other platforms,” said Saleh.
Competition among those platforms is heating up, as global players enter Africa’s motorcycle taxi market and local startups raise venture capitals and expand to new frontiers.