Gokada, an app based in Nigeria, has announced its expansion plans.
According to TechCrunch, the company, launched in 2018 in Lagos as a ride-hailing service, expanded its offerings to provide a variety of logistics solutions and food delivery services. This move came after the Lagos State government banned ride-hailing platforms, which of course negatively impacted Gokada’s bottom line.
Now, with CEO Nikhil Goel at the helm, who took over following the death of late founder Fahim Saleh, the company is combining all of its services, from ride-sharing to logistics, into one single app. This move will make it a “super app” and a top contender in the fickle Nigerian market.
“In September and October, we launched GShop which is the food delivery platform for Gokada. What we realized from our customers was that while they were using the Gsend and GShop separately, they came to us asking if we could put them together,” Goel said to TechCrunch. “So doing this is more like a transition from other things we were doing and making it easier for our customers to have all our services in one platform and create a super app.”
In 2020, Gokada crossed the $100 million transactional thresholds and helped more than 30,000 merchants make more than $1 million in food deliveries. The company’s growth increased three times, year over year, and its revenue increased ten times since its inception.
However, it bears noting that as of right now, the company only offers ride-hailing services in the city of Ibadan, because of Lagos’ ban on the use of ride-hailing services. This move is reminiscent of the major city ban on the use of such apps as Uber and Lyft in the United States. But Gokada says they plan to expand their services into Uganda and eventually plan to serve the entire eastern African continent.
