Gokada Resumes Operation After Structural Reform

• Gokada Resumes Operation After Structural Reform

Gokada, one of Nigeria’s motorbike hailing companies, has resumed operation following a structural reform announced by one of the founders of the company on August 14th.

Fahim Saleh, CEO, Gokada, had announced a temporary closedown of all operations following an unpleasant experience with one of the company’s riders. Fahim immediately called for structural reform of all operations to enhance customers experience and satisfaction.

The startup has now resumed operation and announced it would leverage on existing reach and gradually grow its customers without concerning itself with competitors’ approach.

Speaking on aggressive penetrating strategy of Oride, a fierce competitor that just raised $50 million, Ayodeji Adewunmi, the company Co-CEO, said Ayodeji Adewunmi, engaging in a price war is not a sustainable strategy, “I think like a brand and a company, we are not going to get into a price war. We don’t think this is a sustainable strategy. We would rather focus on the experience, and the reason we think this is important is that currently today, for every order we are fulfilling, we get about 15 additional orders we can’t fulfil. So it clearly shows that the market is there.

“We are also positioning the brand as a premium brand and we believe that once the experience is in place and as we keep growing, we will definitely be able to meet the current demand. Overall, we believe the market will grow.

“So for us, it’s not about offering discounts to be able to attract customers, because we already believe that we have a brand that attracts enough customers. Even with more brands (competitors) on the road, demand will continue growing,” Adewunmi said.

On entering new cities to further the company’s reach and revenue generation following Oride entery into Aba, Ibadan etc, the CEO said: “We will not go to other cities because competitors are in other cities. We believe that Lagos is a massive opportunity, Lagos is approximately 750,000 okada market and on the back of the 750,000 okada, we are talking about 4 to 5 million rides a day.”

“And on the back of that, we are talking about 3 to 4 and 5 billion dollar revenue opportunities. So we are not in a rush to be everywhere at the same time. Also, we are careful about how we deploy our capital because, at the end of the day, we believe that will be what differentiates us. Lagos State’s potential upside is really tremendous.”

He, however, said the new proposed regulation by Lagos State Government will help the industry as it will help attract the much-needed investors.

“I think regulation will create a lot of advantages for the business. It will create the enabling environment for even more investment to come to space. So it’s something that we 100% embrace,” he added.