Bolt, the mobility tech company that recently closed a huge round, is planning to onboard an additional 200,000 drivers in Africa this year, as it kicks-off expansion to more cities within its existing markets while keeping up with the growing demand for e-hailing services across the continent.
Bolt's Africa regional director, Paddy Partridge, said that the firm has experienced a spike in on-demand transportation services, and that the current drivers are especially in Nigeria.
Bolt caters to about 40 million riders in seven markets in Africa.
One of the challenges we have with our growth at the moment is that the demand for our services is growing faster than we are able to onboard drivers in West and Southern Africa. We can't keep up with the growth because drivers can't access vehicles at an affordable rate.
To solve the issue of access to cars, we have to find ways to really attract as many drivers as we can, like make their earnings potential as good as possible, so that we can bring people onto our platform.
Africa Regional Director, Bolt Ride Hailing, Paddy Partridge. The image is called Bolt.
Bolt already has vehicle-financing partnerships with banks in markets like Nigeria and South Africa, and is planning to form additional collaborations, and explore the expansion of the current ones to reach more markets and drivers.
The increase in the cost of vehicles is a result of supply-chain challenges brought about by the Covid pandemic. People's buying power has been undermined by high inflation in Nigeria.
The financing gap will be bridged by partnerships. Bolt and Metro Africa Xpress (Max), a Nigerian mobility-tech company, collaborated to extend lease-to-own financing to its drivers. The partnership with Max will provide financing for 10,000 energy efficient vehicles, which will be used by drivers using leased vehicles or those employed to operate taxis. The taxi company said it will explore similar arrangements in other markets.
Bolt has an arrangement with FlexClub in South Africa that allows drivers to get into the taxi business through a lease-to-own financing model. FlexClub signed a partnership with Untapped Global in October of last year to extend credit for 2,000 electric vehicles to on-demand workers in Mexico and South Africa.
The company has a long-term goal of increasing the number of clean energy vehicles onboarded on its platform as part of its contribution towards cutting carbon emissions from gasoline and diesel use. Bolt is going to ink more deals with EV dealers.
Bolt plans to enter at least two new markets in Africa this year, as well as expand to more cities within its existing markets. The image is called Bolt.
One of the models of partnership that we are really expanding this year is vehicle financing. He said that they have a partnership with Max in Nigeria, but they believe they can partner with them in other markets.
We want to use our platform and our money to make these cars more affordable and to de-risk the people that are providing the financing like banks or fleet managers. We are seeing how we can work with the players that are developing the charging infrastructure, de-risking them to improve their economics so they can roll that out faster.
With the demand of electric vehicles by riders being slightly higher than regular taxis, the ride-hailing has had to conduct education on the value of owning one to increase take-up. Bolt gives drivers data, including their payment history, to help assess their credit-worthiness.
The company plans to increase the adoption of electric vehicles in all of its categories. The focus at the moment is on the four-wheelers, where the adoption is slow due to the hefty costs.
Bolt said it needs more vehicles to support its growth-plan for the region, which includes the expansion of its taxi- hailing business within its existing markets and the growth of its food-delivery business across the continent. South Africa was the first African market for the delivery business in 2020.
Bolt is planning to enter at least two new markets within the North and West Africa regions before the year ends. Tunisia, Uganda, and Tanzania are its current markets.
Africa's increasing smartphone penetration, willingness to take-up new technologies, a youthful population and the overall demand for on-demand transportation services are some of the factors the ride-hailing firm is looking to tap into.
Bolt is a transport and deliveries company. The image is called Bolt.
Bolt was founded in 2013 by Markus Villig and has operations in 45 countries and recently launched the 15-minute grocery delivery service. While Villig said in a past interview that they will use its newly-acquired $709 million funding to fuel the expansion of these new businesses, it seems that the focus for now will only be the ride-hailing and the food delivery businesses.
Our portfolio of products is designed to remove the need for people to own their vehicles. We have seen promising results in the markets where we have rolled this out. There is a big opportunity for this in Africa. We are trying to savor that opportunity and see if it makes sense to prioritize now.
Over the next seven years, the global ride-hailing service industry is expected to more than double in size, as the sector slowly recovers from the ravages of the Covid epidemic. According to this report, the sector is expected to grow by 10% annually due to a spike in demand as the world embraces the "new normal" that has seen activities in industries like transport almost fully return in regions like Africa.
Over the last few months, ride-hailing companies with operations in Africa and those eyeing the continent have picked up the pace, launching new products and setting up operations in new countries. Didi made inroads into the rest of Africa after operating in South Africa. PoolChance is a feature that allows riders to get discounted rides when they share cabs.
As international e-hailing companies enter the African market, they are also having to contend with growing competition from local companies like Wasili and Little. Mass transit operators like SWVL, the Egyptian ride-sharing company with operations across Africa, South Asia and Middle-East, are breaking barriers by formalizing public transport in emerging markets.
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