Thread by @sarnchos

I have a story of hope and upliftment

#thread

Yesterday while on my way home, I noticed many people at the popular "gate" bus stop in Ibadan were trying to get access to transport through their phones.

O-ride Street, the only motorcycle hailing startup in Ibadan has changed

how several people access and use transportation. Eventually I wasn't able to get an O-ride bike (because it was raining and I'm sure demand was overwhelming), nevertheless I was intrigued.

I saw several dissatisfied comments online (which I also contributed to) about O-pay

O-pay is the owner of O-ride and the app that encapsulates ride hailing among several other services.

This morning on my way out, I decided to take another O-ride bike and also ask questions.

I met "wasiu" (not his real name) and asked him about his experience as an O-ride

operator in Ibadan.

Wasiu's story really gave me a lot of joy.

He told me that when O-pay recruits riders in Ibadan (they register & are vetted & trained), they are given helmets and vests free, while they are also given smartphones pre-installed with the O-pay app at 30k cost

The money for the smartphones are deducted daily at N300.

Wasiu told me that O-pay deducts N650 (or thereabouts) daily for a turnover of N6,000

He said that previously before O-pay, he did 6 hours of daily work and struggled to achieve N3,000 daily (minus fuel)

Today, he said,

His story has changed.

Wasiu told me that for a 6 hour workday nowadays, his worst take home is N4,500 after all sundry deductions from O-pay

He says he is now more relaxed & healthy.

He advises anyone who really wants to work to register as an O-ride operator.

The difference

is clear.

He told me O-pay has about 200 staff in its Iwo road head office.

So far I estimate that they have recruited over 10,000 riders.

Including those who use the app, they are succeeding in attracting millions of users to their platform (in Ibadan).

With their structure,

O-pay is changing a significant number of lives in Ibadan, and this will only impact positively in security, state govt revenue generation through taxes, and general prosperity

And they aren't doing too badly business-wise either. I estimate that for every rider they spend about

N50,000 in kitting, training and support, they are making returns of about N200,000 per annum. Multiplied by the total number of riders, we can calculate total revenue of over N1 billion naira in Ibadan alone.

Imagine replicating this model all over Nigerian cities nationwide

These are the types of investments that Nigerian capitalists should be making, but it is a shame that our people are stuck in rent seeking, fraudulent debt delinquency, & public embezzlement.

O-pay got its startup capital in the region of $50m (almost N20b) from a few investors

Including its owner (Opera)

With good management & perseverance, they'll turn a profit in less than 5 yrs with the potential for pan African growth

These are the stories I want to be telling on my platform rather than dwelling on parochial negativity that has gotten us nowhere

Imagine O-pay layering other services such as insurance (including health management for their riders & the public), education, training (& other human development), health care delivery, logistics, etc

The sky is their limit

They're taking Africa by storm!

Kudos to O-pay

End