Safeboda is Preserving Commuters’ Lives by Providing Safe Transportation System for Users in Africa
Road accidents are the third leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa. In Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, there are 80,000 motorbike drivers, only 1% of whom currently wear helmets.
More than 60% of the surgical budget at the main Kampala hospital is spent on treating motorbike crash injuries. As a matter of fact, research has shown that the rate of road accidents is set to match HIV/AIDS as the highest cause of death in low/middle income countries by 2030.
To curb this occurrence, Alastair Sussock, Maxime Dieudonne and Ricky Rapa Thomson founded Safeboda in 2015, a platform that aims to create a commercially viable network of safe taxi motorbike (‘Boda’) drivers. They aim to modernize informal transportation and ensure safe access to mobility and their key safety intervention is the use of helmets and provision of driver training.
They basically ensure that customers have access to riding with trained and trusted drivers, each equipped with a spare helmet, the service is usually at a fair price with no hassle bargaining. Behavior change is generated through financial incentives, whereby SafeBoda drivers attract more customers and increase income by 50%.
The company is working tirelessly to improve the industry for both drivers and passengers by increasing the number of safe trips taken per day and by making travelling around cities convenient and stress-free. It is a true African business designed for the African context.
Safeboda plans to extend its activities to the most populated country in Africa; Nigeria. Given the fact that Nigeria also runs one of the biggest economies in Africa and this seem like a creative move. According to several sources, Safeboda plans to commence its operations in Lagos, the largest city in Nigeria, before expanding to other cities in the country and they are currently hiring qualified and experienced talents who would be in charge of the startup’s operation in the region.
