Nigerian Ride-sharing service Shuttlers seeks funding for operational expansion
Shuttlers, a Lagos-based ride-sharing service, is seeking to raise US$1.5 million by the end of the second quarter to expand to cities such as Abuja and Accra.
The company, according to its CEO Damilola Olokesusi, is also planning to start running school buses in Lagos when the school year starts in September. Shuttlers has run pilot school bus projects but implementation has been held up by Covid-19.
Read also: New FinTech platform opens for tech-based financial services
Olokesusi co-founded the Shuttlers service, alongside Busola Majekodunmi and Damilola Quadry, in 2015 because as a young graduate she couldn’t afford a car, but public transport was too uncomfortable to use.
Apply For Funding GetFundedAfrica provides equity capital from $1,000 to $50,000. For larger amounts (Above $50,000) we organize syndicated funding rounds of up to $500,000. Apply Here
Larger companies were able to supply buses for their employees, but there was no practical solution for many people working at small or medium-sized companies, she says.
The solution was for Shuttlers to rent buses from private bus owners. The bus owners weren’t interested in smaller groups or individuals – the fastest way for them to fill the bus up was to rent it out to a large company.
Read also: South Africa’s Ukheshe accords with Kenya’s KCB Bank to aid payment services in Eastern Africa
Shuttlers saw an opportunity to buy the seats at wholesale prices and then sell them at retail prices on its platform.
Shuttlers customers are a mixture of small and medium-sized companies and individuals. The company has sold more than 500 million seats to date, and Olokesusi points to the impact in terms of reducing the number of cars on the road.
Click here to find out more!
Corporate customers can subsidize or pay for their staff through a digital wallet system. Individuals also pay digitally and then scan a barcode with their mobile phones to show they have paid.
The company has never accepted cash. In addition to the driver, the buses have stewards or “bus captains”, customers who have been given a discount to perform the role.
Read also: Why Nigeria’s growing digital economy needs insurance
The fact that the founders are female made it harder to get early funding, she says. The logistical problems faced in Lagos were daunting.
Those obstacles meant that it was critical to prove quickly that Shuttlers had a profitable business model, Olokesusi says. The company is making money, with revenue above US$1 million in 2020.
Though the Covid-19 pandemic adversely affected other businesses, it however led to increasing demand for the service as companies are looking to cut costs and outsource as much as possible. “People don’t want to use public transport” and private services are seen as “more reliable” in following anti-Covid rules, she says.
Read also: The role of technology in unlocking trade value in East Africa
There are also plans to launch a women’s only bus service which will be equipped with learning apps that will enable customers to improve their digital and financial skills because the company believes that it will help people make the most of their time as they turn traffic time to learning time.
Ride-sharing the company believes is part of the solution to beating traffic in congested West African cities.
Read the original article here
