Identifying a business opportunity in Kampala’s inefficient transport system
Tom Collins speaks to Andrew Lema, co-founder and CEO of minibus ridesharing service Easy Matatu.
When Andrew Lema used to take a local bus known as a ‘matatu’ to work in central Kampala, the journey would take almost twice as long as if he travelled in a car
The old buses, often crammed full of people, would make erratic stops as the driver picked up other commuters on the way to the centre of Uganda’s busy capital.
On one of these journeys, Lema and two friends decided to create a company called Easy Matatu to make transport simpler for local commuters. “We were seated in the back of a matatu and thinking about innovation in Uganda. What struck us was that nothing has happened in the matatu space. We are still using these banged-up, unsafe and unreliable matatus. And that’s what sparked the idea.”
Turning a problem into a business
The concept is simple: users book rides on buses via an app, which allows the drivers to make pre-determined stops and enables clients to pre-book a ride. The clients can request a ride from anywhere, provided it is already on a given route. The start-up takes a cut from each ride booked on the app and the prices are roughly the same as normal matatus.
The company uses data and analytics to create optimised routes that increase efficiency.
Source: Howwemadeitinafrica.com