Buoyed by their foray and seeming capture of the Bike Hailing business in Lagos with ORide, Opera is poised to take the competition in the tech-led transportation service in Nigeria to another level with the launch of OCar car-hailing service. The new platform which analysts say will put pressure on the established ones such as Uber and Bolt (formerly known as Taxify) is set to disrupt the market with added incentives for both driver and customers.
The new entrant which close watchers say may have a huge advantage because it is going to ride on an existing platform which is one of the fastest growing payment startup, OPay will likely be the game changer, according to Mr. Uche Uzodike a tech entrepreneur who noted that with the advantage this new service will have will be mostly from their experience with their OPay based Bike-Hailing service which took the market by storm and seemingly enveloped other competitors.
Read also:Africa-focused Fintech Startup OPay Raises $120 Million From Chinese Investors
Sources at Opera say that like the Bike hailing service, OCar will also be accessed via OPay’s mobile app which presently is activated in Lagos, but will soon be launched in other cities both as a ride-hailing and ride-sharing service including Lagos, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Abuja, Benin, Kaduna, Abeokuta, and Ibadan. If activated in these eight cities, OCar will definitely become a major competitor to Bolt which is already operational in these above states and also compete with Uber which has huge presence in Lagos, Abuja and Benin.
Mr. Ridwan Olalere Senior Director of Operations (ORide) said that the firm is on a constant path to provide solutions to all Nigerians and that they are rolling out this service in cities where residents do not consider it a luxury as it serves as a primary source of transportation.
Read also:Ghanaian Entrepreneur Launches First Online Cosmetics Shop
OCar according to sources at the firm will operate a similar third-party business model as Uber and Bolt and will offer a very competitive rate to drivers which analysts say may cause a shift in the business. While Uber offers a 25% commission to drivers, OCar is going the way of Bolt by offering 15% which points to the possibility that their price will be within Bolt’s range, however, theirs is said to be coming with lots of incentives to attract more drivers to the platform, something they already tried out with their other platforms such as ORide and OTrike.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.