SafeBoda, a ride and hailing car company has announced that its exit from Nigeria, stating that it will focus on Uganda, which is more profitable.
Mr Alastair Sussock, the SafeBoda co-founder and chief executive officer, said Uganda generates significant cash flow and is moving quickly to full profitability.
“The unit value of our services [in Uganda] are significantly higher than in Nigeria and our brand has deep roots.
In Uganda, our boda, car [core transport] also work well with our parcel delivery, payments and financial services products.
We see growing cross sell from our core transport use case,” he said, noting that Uganda is a huge market with more than 1.5 million rides happening every day in greater Kampala alone.
SafeBoda had launched in Ibadan, Nigeria, after a ban on okadas or bodas in Lagos.
However, Mr Sussock indicated that the core unit economics of the okada business in Nigeria were very challenging, which even if they are positive, the margins were too thin.
SafeBoda, recently secured funding from Yamaha Motor Company and other existing investors, saying it will focus on enhancing its core transportation offer in Uganda after exiting from Nigeria.
It should be recalled that SafeBoda had first exited the Kenyan market in November, 2020 citing Covid- 19 related effects.
