Inspired by unruly traffic, taxi app a hit with Ivory Coast’s growing middle class
Companies are tapping into country’s budding optimism, powered by 10 per cent yearly economic growth rate
In bustling Abidjan, a homegrown company has tapped into the global taxi app revolution that has spawned Uber and other online transport networks.
While Uber has already jumped into several African markets from South Africa to Egypt, Africab seeks to provide Ivory Coast’s emerging middle class with a locally-owned high-tech and reliable travel option.
Africab’s clients can use the company app to book its taxis — which cannot be hailed on the road, and it advertises its services only online.
Its fixed fares tend higher than for regular but clients benefit from perks.
A daytime trip that would cost around 2,000 CFA francs (Dh11) in an old cab can cost 3,300 CFA francs in an Africab.
But the start-up’s sleek vehicles — which are owned by to be taxis, extra the company, not by the driver — are all air-conditioned. They are fitted with tablet devices and offer free Wi-Fi internet access.
“Brr, it’s cold inside!” jokes Ivorian comedian Michel Gohou in an advertising video for Africab’s fleet.
“Africab is the new way of getting around,” brags Vangsy Goma, the founder and managing director of the firm.
The company, Goma says on Africab’s website, seeks “to build an entrepreneurial culture that is based on technology and respects African identity.”
Managing the roads
The idea for Africab came from trying to navigate Abidjan’s unruly traffic, says Goma, a native of the Republic of Congo educated in the US and Europe and married to an Ivorian woman. “When I came here, I often had difficulty organising journeys. You had to get out on the street, haggle ... or sometimes rent a car and brave the traffic,” he said.
“The cars [regular taxis] were dilapidated, they are often more than 20 years old. Drivers are badly trained and for the most part, there is no air-conditioning.”
Until political strife erupted in 2010-11, Ivory Coast had long been the star economic performer in West Africa.
But when former president Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down despite an election defeat, 3,000 people were killed in months of conflict.
With a 10 per cent yearly economic growth rate, the West African country is now back on the rails.
The International Monetary Fund said last month that it was on track towards becoming the continent’s fastest-growing economy.
Companies like Africab are tapping into the budding optimism that the upward trend has brought.
Its launch in February 2016 cost one billion CFA francs in investment, of which 800 million was raised by bank loans.
Goma is confident about expanding the firm, with a monthly turnover that rose from 20 million CFA francs in April to 60 million by September and a fast-growing portfolio of business clients.
In coming weeks, he says, Africab taxis will take to the streets of Lome and Cotonou, the capital of Togo and the economic capital of Benin.
To make it work, the company is striving to adapt its services to local needs.
As is often the case in African towns and cities, many of Abidjan’s backstreets and alleys have never been named.
To get around this, Africab maps the addresses of clients and familiar landmarks.
Satisfied client Fatou Bamba, who manages her own company, finds Africab’s cars clean and comfortable — plus there’s the internet bonus.
“Above all, you’re Bamba said.
Africab founder
safe ...,”