Ethiopia is seeing waves of entries from African startups, despite the political instability currently plaguing the East African country. The latest to join the growing list of startups which have expanded to the country is the Kenya-based taxi-hailing service, Little Cab. This follows the launch of Little Mekina owned by Ethiopia-based Little Technologies share company. The Ethiopian company launched the service after it signed a partnership agreement with Kenya’s Little Cab to use the latter’s platform.

“Little Technologies Share Company, established by Ethiopian investors with a paid-up capital of 140 million Birr, will facilitate the introduction of the service that will see Little Cab being re-branded as Little Mekina,” said Mekonnen Mikael, Communication and Advocacy Director of the company.

Here Is What You Need To Know

• According to Zelalem Worku, Deputy CEO of Little Technologies, Little will have super apps with expanded services such as transport services, auto rentals, mobile top-ups, and utility payments when it launches in Ethiopia.

• Little Cab, which is supported by Safaricom, a telecom provider that has already entered the Ethiopian telecom market, is scheduled to launch mobile-based operations in collaboration with Little Mekina in the near future.

• According to Mekonnen, the company has begun registering taxi drivers, with over 500 of them ready to give service.

• Since digital systems and operations to link the platform with digital banking systems and mobile money services have already begun, Little Technologies’ major goal is to deliver services that prevent cash-based payments.

“The incentives that the company provides to its drivers will make the service unique and, everyone can buy shares of the company starting from a single share,” Mekonnen said.

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• Anteneh Fikadu, an Ethiopian Airlines spokesperson, revealed that the airline has previously cooperated with Little Cab under the Sheba miles program via prepayment mode to distribute Sheba points to the ride-hailing service’s consumers.

• The procedure of installing the platform and obtaining permissions from the Authority, according to Mekonnen, would take eight months.

S/N	AFRICAN STARTUP	SECTOR	BASE COUNTRY OF OPERATIONS	COUNTRY EXPANDED INTO IN 2021 (AS AT JUNE 10TH)
1	mPharma	Healthtech	Ghana	Ethiopia
2	Aza Finance	Fintech	Kenya	South Africa
3	Gozem	Ride-hailing	Togo	Gabon
4	Andela	Edtech	New York, USA	Latin, South America
5	SWVL	Ride-hailing	Egypt	Saudi Arabia
6	GOMYCODE	Edtech	Tunisia	Morocco; Senegal
7	FairMoney	Fintech	Nigeria	India
8	Autochek	Car listing	Nigeria	Ghana
9	Daystar Power	Solar energy	Nigeria	Togo
10	ZeePay	Fintech	Ghana	Zambia
11	Catch	Ride-hailing	Ethiopia	Kenya
12	AURA	Security	South Africa	Kenya
13	Paystack	Fintech	Nigeria	South Africa
14	Flutterwave	Fintech	Nigeria	Ethiopia
15	Termii	Communications-as-a-service	Nigeria	Cote D’ivoire
16	Little Cab	Ride-hailing	Kenya	Ethiopia

Little Cab Ethiopia Little Cab Ethiopia

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Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer