Ride-hailing company Gokada has announced its plans to launch ride-hailing services in Nigeria as part of its ‘super app’.
According to reports, the Gokada super app would enable customers across these cities to use food delivery, logistics, and e-commerce (groceries and medicines among other supplies) services as well as ride-hailing services.
The announcement follows Gokada’s apparently impressive year despite the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2020, the ban on motorcycles in Lagos hampered the company’s operations, which forced it to downsize and lay off over 50% of its staff.
Evidently, to cope with the government-imposed ride-hailing ban in the Lagos State, Gokada launched GShop, a food delivery platform, and Gsend, a logistics service portal, later in the year. In its super app, the company would supposedly combine all three services.
Gokada has reported an annualized transaction value of over $100 million in 2020. Additionally, the firm has supposedly helped over 30,000 merchants on its platform in carrying out more than 1 million e-commerce and food delivery orders.
Nikhil Goel, CEO of the ride-hailing-turned-logistics company, reportedly said that the recent move is intended to make it easier for customers to access all Gokada services through a unified platform.
Goel assumed the role of chief executive in March after former founder Fahim Saleh’s tragic passing. As per reports, since Goel took on the position, Gokada’s volume growth has tripled in the past six months.
Gokada is currently operating in Lagos, although the company has been planning to enter other cities, including Ibadan, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Ogun.
Gokada is reportedly in the process of securing operational licenses for its ride-hailing operations in Nigeria. The firm has already received a NIPOST license to alleviate potential risks in the regulatory setting and to be able to conduct courier logistics services operations across the country.
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