Race to build Africa's super app
Nigerian Osarumen Osamuyi, a former venture capitalist and a frequent motorbike taxi user who lives between Nairobi and Lagos, agrees that there is great potential in Africa. He recalls passing up the opportunity to invest in a promising motorbike taxi start-up while working for a venture capital firm a couple of years ago - it went on to raise a sizable investment sum at an attractive valuation. It is becoming a crowded field as more motorbike taxi apps open Mr Osamuyi, now an industry analyst, is not bitter - and is more circumspect about the long-term value of backing a business vying for prominence in a crowded field. He says that what we are witnessing on the continent is a race to establish the most ubiquitous super-app, boasting the largest network of active users. Essentially, it's another scramble for Africa as tech investors place their bets on who they think might build the continent's ultimate digital platform. Firms like MAX.ng, Gokada and SafeBoda are seeking to emulate the success of Grab and Go-Jek in south-east Asia, trying to build up a massive pan-African user network as quickly as markets will allow. Then, once critical scale is achieved, they plan to monetise their networks of users by selling them useful services like identity verification, as well as financial services such as mobile payments, credit facilities and micro-insurance. Beyond that, the sky is the limit should they succeed in their mission to build a large, viable network of active users. Motorbikes are a great way of to avoid wasting hours in traffic jams At that point, investors could reasonably expect to glean massive commercial gains as start-up teams conceive and package novel, lucrative ways of extracting commercial value via their platforms. For now though, it's very much a case of "show me the money" as tech start-ups in the motorbike taxi space seek funds to back their bold plans to achieve mass-adoption in Africa.DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
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