Popular motorcycle hailing company, Gokada, has suspended its operations to ‘rework’ things after the CEO had a first hand experience with the service.
Things are really getting hot in the motorcycle hailing sector in Nigeria, so what exactly is going on with Gokada?
On Medium, Fahim Saleh, the CEO of Gokada, shared his personal experience with one of the company’s bikes in Victoria Island, Lagos.
He explained how he requested a ride to get to the mainland bridge from VI. It took the pilot 15 minutes and three phone calls before he arrived.
According to Saleh, “Upon questioning the pilot, I learned that he didn’t use GPS on his phone because the earplugs he had were broken. Irritated, I motioned him to get started with the ride as I was in a hurry. It should be pretty obvious how to get to the mainland bridge from VI, so I didn’t concern myself with providing him directions but I knew from Google Maps using the best route, it should only take 10–15 minutes.”
“After about 15 minutes, we were still on the road. I hastily took out my phone and did a quick input of the directions to the bridge and realized we were still 15 minutes away. This pilot had taken a long route to get to the bridge, one that would have been completely avoided had he used the map. I motioned that I would direct him based on the Google Maps navigation.”
“How could I be the CEO of Gokada, the company that pioneered motorcycle ride-hailing in Nigeria and be saying this? I was disappointed in Gokada but most of all, I was disappointed in myself.”
Apparently, Gokada’s operations have been suspended and not terminated as most of us thought at first.
So with what we know, Gokada is taking a 12-day break – which started August 14th 2019 – to restrategize and make things work better this time.
This may be a good thing as it helps Gokada come back better and stronger. Meanwhile….
Some things on my mind…
Saleh did good by trying out his own business and by being honest but why now? Gokada has been operating for about two years now, so why are they just finding out that something is up with some of the riders and the app itself?
Is it just me or this just shows how things are in most businesses. The ‘Oga’ is up there and he may not even know if his business model is really working because he isn’t getting a first hand experience of his service.
Or is Gokada struggling? With the rise of ORide and the rest, could it be that Gokada is dying out little by little?
Or is this some sort of PR stunt?
Let’s just say I’m worried for the company because right now, other bike-haling platforms are springing up and doing well; so Gokada could be at risk of total fallout.
