* Motorcycle ride-hailing firms popular in Asia and East
Africa
* Companies expanding in Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast
* About 8 million informal motorcycle taxis in Nigeria
* Passengers seek safety along with speed
By Alexis Akwagyiram
LAGOS, June 12 (Reuters) - Motorcycle taxi companies are
expanding in West Africa with backing from investors betting
that the meteoric rise of two-wheeled taxi firms in Asia can be
replicated in some of the fastest growing countries in the
world.
Four bike taxi firms are now battling it out on the streets
of Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos and the oldest, Nigerian
motorcycle taxi firm max.ng, is planning to launch in Ghana and
Ivory Coast this year, as well as a fourth Nigerian city.
While informal motorcycle taxis have been around in Africa
for years, the new companies are hoping to win market share by
offering trained, accountable drivers and the convenience of
booking rides through a mobile app.
As in Asia, the companies are also looking to turn their
ride-hailing apps into one-stop mobile shops offering a host of
services from e-payments to deliveries to insurance - the kind
of strategy that transformed Indonesia's Go-Jek into a $10
billion company in less than a decade.
Max.ng co-founder Adetayo Bamiduro said its expansion would
be funded by a recent investment round that raised $5 million-$7
million and that it was targeting an accumulated total of 2
million rides by the middle of 2020, up from 200,000 by May.
The company started out as a motorbike delivery service in
2015 in Lagos and added an app for ride-hailing in 2017, as well
as credit facilities for would-be drivers to lease new bikes and
pay for them over time.
"What we've done is to look at the market in Nigeria and
across the region and say 'what pieces are missing?': financial
infrastructure for mobility doesn't exist, ride-hailing
technology for two-wheeled and three-wheeled mobility doesn't
exist," Bamiduro told Reuters.
Africa offers huge potential for motorcycle ride-hailing
firms due to low personal car ownership, rapidly expanding
populations and a lack of efficient mass transport systems in
fast-growing cities that are clogged with cars.
BIG OPPORTUNITY
Known as okadas in Nigeria and Ghana and boda bodas in East
Africa, informal motorbike taxis are part of the African
transportation fabric. In Nigeria alone, there are an estimated
8 million okada drivers, according to max.ng and rival Gokada.
Nigeria has Africa's biggest economy and largest population
while Ghana and Ivory Coast are two of the world's fastest
growing economies, according to the International Monetary Fund.
While the motorbike taxi firms in West Africa are small now,
investors hope some can replicate the success of the Asian
ride-hailing unicorns.
"Go-Jek showed what could be achieved in a market like
Indonesia, then the Uber UBER.N and Lyft LYFT.O IPOs led to
a global interest in mobility," said Aubrey Hruby, co-founder of
Tofino Capital, which invests in emerging market tech firms.
"People are looking at mobility and they're looking at the
next big opportunity," Hruby said.
Bamiduro declined to name the investors in max.ng's latest
funding round, but said two had also invested in Singapore's
Grab which, like Go-Jek, expanded quickly thanks to consumers
using smartphones to shop, commute and make payments.
Besides max.ng, the other three companies offering motorbike
taxis in Lagos are Gokada, SafeBoda, which started out in the
East African, and ORide.
Gokada is funded by U.S. and Gulf investment and venture
capital funds while SafeBoda counts Go-Jek and Allianz ALVG.DE
among its backers.
When the German insurance giant's Alliance X digital
division announced its investment in SafeBoda in May, it said
the firm had substantial growth potential with scope for
developing financial services and insurance products.
Founded in Uganda in 2015, SafeBoda launched in Kenya last
year. Babajide Duroshola, who heads its Nigeria operations, told
Reuters the West African country's population of about 190
million made it appealing.
By comparison, about 120 million people live in the East
African Community, which is made up of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda,
Tanzania and Uganda.
ORide, the latest motorbike ride-hailing app to enter the
Lagos market, is part of OPay in which Norwegian software firm
Opera OPRA.O has an equity interest.
The company told Reuters it hopes ORide will help both its
Opera web browser and OPay expand their reach into new services.
E-WALLETS
The idea of booking a motorbike taxi through a company that
has trained drivers and provides passengers with a helmet
appeals to some commuters in Lagos.
Engineer Dayo Omolosho said he booked a Gokada rider with
his mobile phone after his car broke down in the Victoria Island
business district, partly because he wanted to feel more secure.
"Everybody wants faster movement in Lagos but we're still
afraid of the normal okada. You see some people already drunk,
they're already high, so you can't control them," he said,
adding that riders working for companies have been trained and
are accountable through a ratings and complaints system.
Okadas were so heavily criticised for unpredictable driving
and accidents that in 2012, Lagos banned motorcycles with a
cylinder capacity below 200cc from using major roads or the
bridges that criss-cross the city built around a lagoon.
That was a blow to the informal sector where most bikes are
about 100cc. But max.ng and Gokada bought fleets of 200cc
motorbikes that met legal requirements.
Gokada launched in Lagos in January 2018 and its bright
green motorbikes and helmets have become a fixture on the city's
streets.
Founder Fahim Saleh, who set up motorcycle taxi firm Pathao
in Bangladesh in 2013, said the company was planning to launch
services in the northern Nigerian city of Kano and southern oil
hub Port Harcourt by the end of this year.
He told Reuters the expansion into new cities, along with
repair centres and rider training schools, will be funded with
some of the $5 million it raised this year. Gokada then plans to
start rolling out other services.
"Within the next couple of months we will start developing a
wallet that would allow you to pay for rides," he said. "We want
to be in all forms of transport. And also food, and services - a
hairdresser delivered to your door, or a masseuse."