Rapidly growing taxi app, Uber is set to launch in Kenya.
The company has advertised three vacancies for the Nairobi office on its careers site, an indication it may be starting operations in the city in the coming months.
At the moment, Uber is operational in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Cairo and Lagos and in over 200 other cities across US, Asia, Australia and Europe.
Uber will have to contend with Brazilian start-up Easy Taxi, which is already in Nairobi and in 60 other cities.
The company has been disrupting the cab industry by conveniently connecting drivers with customers in the same area, significantly cutting transit times.
Uber’s model allows users to share rides and customers pay for the services using their credit card directly to the company, which then remits a percentage to the drivers.
Not all is well with the company at the moment. It has faced resistance mainly from taxi associations in at least 20 cities in Europe and Asia which accuse the firm of circumventing taxi regulations and unfair competition.
They are going to face the challenges of training local drivers to understand and use the app dispatch and payment system and protecting smartphones against theft.
Via CapitalFM
