[Kenya] Safaricom takes on Uber with new taxi hailing app
East Africa’s leading mobile service provider Safaricom has announced that it is teaming up with Craft Silicon, a local software company to launch a taxi hailing company that will rival Uber as it seeks to diversify its revenue. Under the arrangement, Safaricom will assist in developing the app, which will be known as Littlecabs, provide network connectivity install WIFI in vehicles that will be signed up on Littlecabs and provide its mobile phone financial service MPESA to facilitate payments.
The decision by the telco giant comes as a burgeoning Kenyan middle class with an affinity for spending drives uptake of personalized products and convenience top among them transportation. Uber which entered the Kenyan market in early 2015 has been a success story and has managed to out maneuver competition in its space. The multinational company which is in 60 countries, 10 being in Sub Saharan Africa however hasn’t had it rough from traditional taxi drivers in Kenya who have accused the company of taking over their market.
The growing popularity of the tech company is what Safaricom is trying to upset even as it seeks to diversify to other revenue streams as competition in the telecommunication industry heats up. While Safaricom has traditionally concentrated on voice, SMS and data, it has increasingly looked at value addition to grow revenue. It is counting on the stellar performance of its mobile banking platform MPESA which has 21 million customers who transact $150 million every day.
“The direction of the company is to be more of a platform and if you are a platform then you are of more use to more people rather than being a pipe where you produce a product and shove it down a distribution pipe and the consumer buys it or doesn’t buy it,” said Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore in a media interview.
