A new online taxi-hailing service has launched in Kenya, promising affordable rides with no commissions charged to drivers.
Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria presided over the launch of the new taxi company dubbed SHOWFA on Monday, February 20.
CS Kuria, who enjoyed his inaugural ride to State House for a meeting, said he will push to abolish a law that requires foreign firms to relinquish at least 30 percent of their shareholding to Kenyan citizens by birth.
“We have got this part in our statute that requires international companies to have thirty per cent local ownership if you’re to set up some of the operations like data centres. Ladies and gentlemen ‘hiyo ni mambo imepitwa na wakati’(those laws are outdated),” he said.
SHOWFA joins the Kenyan market on the premise of zero commissions charged to drivers. They will instead pay a weekly or monthly fee of up to Sh300 instead of paying a commission per ride.
The company’s business development director Dhruv Rajah said drivers and riders will be able to save more from the new App.
“We have done market research and what the riders and drivers tell us is that they pay too much and exorbitant fees in commissions to foreign companies…we want to change that, we want a platform where they can save more,” Rajah said.
He added: “When you have a happy driver or a rider, the customers flow in because they are assured of better services.”
Rajah also said Showfa is safer, cheaper, and more reliable for passengers.
Mr Rajah also announced Showfa will launch ambulance services, where a customer can hail rescue services through the application.
“We are working through some emergency services which we will announce very soon. We will have an application on the App where at the click of a button you can call an ambulance, and it will trigger the closest ambulance in your location.”
