We’re creating logistics jobs for IT savvy youth – Ready Taxi Founder, Baba
Baba Daniel Suleiman is from Nasarawa state. Born in Kaduna, the University of Jos graduate holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Strategic Business and Information Technology from the United Kingdom and a Masters in information systems from the University of Huddersfield, UK. In this interview, the Founder of Readytaxis.com, a taxi booking platform speaks of how through Information Technology, he is easing logistics constraints in Abuja. in transport which I had developed interest for when I worked with the minibus transport. I came up with the concept to build a software I named ‘Tzum Tzum’ with the target of coming back to Nigeria and register the firm in the emerging market.
How did your interest in IT solutions begin? I have worked in various firms in the United Kingdom with the first being BT Engage where I did a short project. I did some projects for the Department of Education in the UK. I came back to Abuja and worked as a consultant running a contact centre for Sterling Bank for public sector e-payment.
I went back to the United Kingdom and worked for a mini bus company before I moved to British Gas. At the minibus company, there was this interest in IT solutions for transport and I decided to go into my business.
How did you then start your It platform?
In 2016, I decided to quit my job and started my firm, EWS (Enterprise Works and Solution) in the UK. What I did was to get some freelance developers and we worked on projects. I get the projects and we do it, having a front end and back end.
Along the line, I was also developing a key project
Is that what has transited to the Readytaxis.com you now operate?
I first did a test run on transport businesses in Nigeria. I got a huge response across Africa and some from Europe. What I did for the ‘Tzum Tzum’ company was to launch the readytaxis.com and get vehicle owners to key into this and I started routing them to customers who wanted a ride. The infrastructure for that took about 18 months to build and that was how the business started.
What is the focus of entrepreneurial platform?
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The focus is to build a transport aggregator and portal where you can post a job and other drivers will do the job or provide you with baits. For instance, if you want to get transport for a family from Abuja to Lagos, you as an agent or protocol officer can cost the job, come to our portal and post the job and all registered and duly vetted drivers on our system will see that and will respond to it. they will bid for this and you can pick the one that best suits the project.
It is a market place like the stock exchange where you can bid for something. It is also like the hotels comparison sites we now have. It engages agents and they are making a fortune just by referring people to hotels of their choice.
How does this IT enterprise
create jobs for teeming youth?
Our platform is targeted at the youth who can work as agent and reach out to people they know that travel often. We call them ‘Transport Brokers’ in our terminology. They will get the job, cost the project and post it at lesser price on Readytaxis.com system and the difference from the project execution goes to them. It is a means of creating a freelance job for youth once they are able to re-direct travellers to hire or ride taxis on our platform just as other contemporaries are doing.
We vet our drivers and ensure they put the customers’ satisfaction (travellers) first because the company puts the drivers’ satisfaction as a priority and that is what we are passing unto customers.
To become a broker, you register or sign up to an account on the site. We pick it up and you process other requirements. With that registration, you can approach hotels, NGOs etc. to get travel jobs from them and post on the platforms. This is trending in Europe and I have run a similar system in the UK and many youth who are engaged in that are creatively gaining a lot.
How many persons has the platform engaged since its operation?
As it stands, we have five permanent staff at our office operating the platform in the United Kingdom and in Abuja. When we expand our marketing strategies, we will be able to spring up uncountable number of workers. However, we have many vehicle owners and drivers that are already benefitting from our system.