Segun Cole, the Chief Executive Officer of the newly launched ride hailing app EkoCab has finally broken his silence over seeming controversies surrounding the ride hailing app.
The App which was launched on Tuesday, 10th March is coming into the ride hailing and transportation eco-system of Lagos metropolis at a time when Lagosians are still reeling from the abrupt ban placed on Okadas and Keke Marwas by the Lagos State government.
Segun in a series of tweets this Wednesday, revealed how the idea of the app came up and how he keyed into an obvious gap he noticed in the eco-system as well as the involvement of the Lagos State government.
In the series of tweets, Segun revealed that the app is totally bootstrapped from the ground up by himselef without any investor’s commitment and that it is also not owned by the Lagos State government as it has been widely claimed.
Read his tweets below:
MIC Check* Hello Twitter. I am Segun Cole. CEO Ekocab. I know this is so 2000 and late, but better now than never.
I have been a policy Consultant on New Mobility to State Governments. Advising them on how to better Regulate the Industry and proffering solutions.
- Sometime back 2015, Uber refused to be Categorized as a Transport Operator, called themselves a digital App connecting riders and drivers only. They created this messaging Architecture and it was established Globally.
- Lagos State wanted to better understand their Operations and bring them under the Tax Infrastructure. We advised them to set up a Sandbox framework, while collecting data to help them study the Operations. They did.
- On the Other hand, local taxis, including Metro/Red and the rest were complaining of diminishing profit margins and source of Income. The argument was that, this was their major source of Income, unlike Uber drivers that did this as pertime mostly.
- So we advised the Regulators to tell these other players to go develop their own Tech, so the Regulators can then draft regulations that regulate all Digital Apps, whether uber or owned by players that owned Cars.
- Just One problem, the Technology was expensive. That’s when I offered to develop this App, that Onboarded all drivers from all other players that can’t afford to develop their own App. It was the M-a-a-s model.
- The Government agreed and Introduced us to these players. First of them are the yellow taxis. We wanted to give them a fighting chance, help them Upgrade. We understand it’s going to take more than just technology, so we trained and also did Culture Re-orientation for them.
- We only trained 100, that we’re tech savvy and Cars that met the standard(AC +).
Most of these Cars are Unbranded, the media only took pictures of yellow pick up backs.
- To put this in proper context, ekocab is open to private Cars. It’s two offerings. Local and private Cars. A Step beyond Uber’s model.
We ran successful pilot tests around surulere last year.
- I have been involved in every Stakeholders engagement with the Government. This has nothing to do with any clamp down on Uber/Bolt. I took advantage of the timing like any Business person would do. Bolt/Uber, heck even fahim Saleh of GoKada are my friends.
- Why are think there is pressure from some Corners of Ekocab is that, we are going to be providing the Regulators a Dashboard to better Track Commuter Traffic Patterns, to better help solve traffic problems.
- This Mobility data would also provide information like accidents rates, speed rates, and e.t.c
This doesn’t sit well with some folks, because this can also reveal some information that would expose shady activity.
- Away from Mobility data. Our prices are certainly Cheaper, and our 12% Commission is lower than what’s available.
- I plan to incorporate Boats, EV logistics and food delivery services. The name would change eventually to Incorporate the Vision.
- This has been bootstrapped with our money and sweat. We haven’t had a dime from any Investors. We did this on purpose, demon Investors everywhere.
- For Online Media presence and controlling the narrative, yes i agree, i have scored F9. Those that covered the launch on twitter, deliberately left out the fact where we announced the app would be going live on the 17th. We wanted to make sure demand met supply.
- This is a Nigerian Company, Owned by Nigerians. I am a Lagos Isale eko boy. I wanted to show that a Nigerian company can give other Nigerian entrepreneurs hope when placed against foreigner Companies with billions of dollars.
- I am not against Uber and Bolt or Opay, the road is Big enough(We all contribute to congestion though) I wish every player the best.
- I can’t Speak for the Government, what i can say is this, this isn’t Government Owned, no powerful person in the Government owns this. Lobbying isn’t Illegal. Every player should be deliberate about collaboration with Regulators.
- Do a quick research, Globally the Regulatory landscape is changing fast, in LA, California, London, Independent contractors have been reclassified as employees.
- The point is this, At Ekocab, we want to take things further. There’s barely a Company that’s not selling Users data. Ekocab Mobility Data that doesn’t invade privacy and trade secrets would be sold and profits shared with our drivers.
