Most big cities across Africa, just like the rest of the world, face a serious problem of road traffic. Lagos, Nigeria is no exception, and one startup has come up with an innovative product. Gokada, the on-demand motorbike taxi-hailing app.
From personal experience, if you want to beat traffic, nothing does the job better than a two-wheeler. You could go for a bicycle, but let’s face it. Just a handful of us have the stamina and endurance to ride bicycles up and down the streets. Plus who wants to be bothered about parking space and security once you reach your destination?
But on a motorbike taxi, you can meander your way in between cars stuck in traffic and arrive at your destination in good time. There is, therefore, a good market for motorbike taxi business in big cities frequented by long traffic snarl-ups.
Riding on that fact, Gokada successfully managed to raise $5.3 million Series A funding. It plans to increase its current fleet of over 1,000 motorcycles, and offer its riders more training on road safety and handling pillion.
Found in 2018 by Fahim Saleh, Gokada has registered over one million rides to date. Saleh is originally from Bangladesh and was also the founder of Pathao, a motorbike, bicycle, and car transportation business.