Ride-sharing app lets commuters connect with those offering transport privately or publicly

Young people have always been the first to embrace the latest trends when it comes to technology, and they intuitively know how to interact with it.

This holds true for the creators of innovative ride-sharing app Afri Ride, whose team of staff members range in age from 20 to 36.

Mireille Umuhoza, the chief operating officer for Afri Ride, said: “At Afri Ride, what takes precedence when developing the app is the potential user experience. Our team is made up of a diverse group of young and skilled members who are dedicated to developing the app in a way that resonates with the experiences and needs of the travelling community.”

Afri Ride is a ride-sharing mobile app with tailormade solutions for the African travelling community. It allows people looking for transport to connect with those offering transport in both a private and public capacity.

Imagine a modern-day carpool where you offer up seats in your car at a price you decide to destinations you’re already heading to. Or what about needing a car for a day or more and borrowing one at an affordable price from someone who isn’t using it at the moment anyway? All of this is possible with the Afri Ride app.

Business development director Modikoe Mauoane said he was motivated by the level of vehicle repossessions.

“Maintaining the cost of vehicle-ownership is quite tricky, that’s why we are welcoming all car owners to offer seats when they travel and share that cost or offer their cars for peer-to-peer car rentals on the app to make an extra buck.”

Afri Ride has also been running campaigns focused on helping the youth.

“In January we started a back to school campaign for university and college students where we subsidised the transport fare for students going back to campus. We partnered with public transport drivers who offered seats on the platform to participate in the campaign. This initiative really pulled together the community,” said Umuhoza.

Another partnership involved The Book Market, a bookstore which buys second-hand textbooks from students.

“The bookstore would purchase books from students and make payment using Afri Wallet, the digital money transfer facility integrated into Afri Ride. This introduced students to a new and simpler way to look at fund management as well as money transfer.”

Umuhoza says there are plans for many similar initiatives in the future once the Covid-19 outbreak has been safely contained and regulations allow for it. One such campaign is an internship programme that has been placed on hold as a result of the pandemic.

“We are working with final year and honours marketing students. What we’re going to do is just give them the concept of Afri Ride and they will divide themselves into teams that will need to come up with marketing and PR strategies. We will judge their strategies and the team that wins will be given the opportunity to implement their strategy in an actual work environment.”

According to Mauoane and Umuhoza, Afri Ride is planning several updates to the app that will launch at the end of the year along with their internship programme.

For more information, visit www.afri-ride.com

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