AFRICA: inDriver From Russia Is Uber’s Latest Competitor In Africa

Global ride-hailing giant Uber has gone from having no competitors in Africa to having more than 50.

While it mainly contends with Taxify, the Estonian ride-hailing service, which is now in more African cities, Uber also faces competition from homegrown options like the Safaricom-backed Little Cabs in Kenya and regional players like Careem across North Africa.

In fact, it tried to merge with Careem this year, but Egyptian regulators warned against the deal.

The latest market entrant is inDriver, a Russian ride-hailing company, which has launched in Arusha, Tanzania, its first market on the continent.

The five-year old company operates in nine other countries across South and Central America as well as Europe. Long-term, inDriver hopes to differentiate its service by allowing drivers and riders haggle over final fare prices while it sets base fare price.

inDriver is also hoping to rapidly grow its driver pool by charging no commissions on driver earnings for six months after which it will begin charging 5% to 8% in commissions—much lower than either Uber or Taxify.

Drivers will also be able to view both pick-up and destination points before accepting rides.

inDriver’s play for drivers is not entirely new as incentivizing drivers has already proven to be a major part of the scrap for ride-hailing market share in Africa.

But what it offers in driver incentives, inDriver will likely lack in financial might compared to the biggest players on the continent. It raised $10 million in its Series B funding round earlier this year. Uber and Taxify are both billion-dollar unicorns.

Neither is showing any signs of slowing down on growing its Africa operations either. Taxify is eyeing ten-fold growth in the next two years and already operates in more African cities than Uber.

For its part, Uber is looking to add Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Mauritius among potential targets to the eight African countries in which it already operates.

Uber has also shown a deeper interest in fitting into local transport ecosystems and has launched lower cost ride-hailing options with rickshaws in Kenya and motorcycles in Uganda.

It’s now looking to roll out a new service in Nairobi to allow users book spots on commercial mini-buses—locally known as matatus—which remain the most common form of transport in the city.


Tourism Observer

SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Women Boost Tourism

Car dealership showrooms inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia shouldn’t be the only sector gearing up to capture the new business opportunity offered by the recent driving ban lifted on Saudi women.

Data released by SEMrush, a leading digital marketing suite, revealed largely positive sentiment towards Saudi women drivers not only inside the Kingdom but also across the GCC, including the UAE.

SEMrush analysed the sentiment of more than 20,000 tweets in KSA and the UAE during the week Saudi women were officially permitted to start driving on the Kingdom’s roads.

The results showed the large majority of Arabic tweets in KSA and UAE had positive sentiment towards the decision to allow Saudi women to drive.

Saudi Arabian tweets were 43% positive and only 13% negative, with the balance being neutral. On the same topic, UAE tweets in Arabic displayed 47% positivity and only 1% negative sentiment, with the balance being neutral on the issue.

The initial positive sentiment across the GCC will provide additional reason for the region’s rent-a-car sector to expect additional growth in inter-GCC road tourism and short-haul business travel coming from and to Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is one of the largest contributors to tourist arrival volumes in neighbouring GCC markets, including the UAE.

According to recent visitor numbers released by the Dubai Tourism & Commerce Marketing Department, Saudi tourists to Dubai reached 1.5 million annual visitors in 2017, with large peaks witnessed around the two main Eid holidays.

With 120,000 Saudi women already applying for driving licenses according to the Saudi Ministry of Interior, the upcoming Eid holiday in August could witness an unprecedented boom in Saudi women embarking on road journeys across the Kingdom and UAE during late summer.

The developments in KSA represent a significant opportunity for the regional rent-a-car sector, especially in the UAE which is the lead tourist destination for GCC families, according to Adam Zeidan, Corporate Communications Manager – GCC and Turkey, SEMrush.

It is up to the GCC rent-a-car sector to decide how to capture this new opportunity using innovative services tailored to Saudi women.

Could GCC car rental fleets witness a big increase in vehicles suitable for mothers, such as MPV’s, cross-over SUV’s and station wagon types?

Or will the rent-a-car business expand its service counter networks to better connect KSA with the GCC, easing vehicle pick-up and drop-off points, as large numbers of Saudi women choose to drive from the Kingdom to Bahrain or the UAE for holidays?

It will be interesting seeing how the sector responds.

Prior to the lifting of the ban, industry estimates forecast the UAE car rental sector would witness 25% annual growth up to the year 2020.

The sector is now expected to witness further acceleration in KSA and the UAE, as tens of thousands of Saudi Arabia’s 10 million-strong female nationals start to obtain driving licenses in their home country.

Saudi women have been gearing up for their first week of legally being allowed to drive. While they are celebrating by taking to the streets, car dealerships are smiling on their way to the bank.

A new graph by Statista, based on PwC data, has revealed the projected number of female drivers, as well as the forecasted car sales figures in 2020.

The holy city Mecca is leading the bunch, estimated to have 8,000,000 women drivers by 2020. Another pilgrimage city, Madina, on the other hand, is lowest at 200,000.

This rise in drivers is clearly reflected in the estimates for car sales. The 2020 number is forecast to be 1,490,000, an exponential 215% rise from 2017’s 690,000 units sold.

This is significant because Saudi Arabia represents the largest automobile market in the region, and car sales and imports figures from previous years had been stagnating. It makes sense why Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman would rewrite the old law at this very moment in time.

According to a report carried by the Al-Eqtisadiah business daily, Saudi Arabia imported 1.27 million cars in 2015. The figure dropped to 897,700 in 2016 and to 605,800 in 2017.

Faisal Abushausha, chairman of the national committee for cars at the Council of Saudi Chambers, told the Saudi Gazette he expects a 6% to 10% increase in car sales with women starting to drive in the Kingdom.

He estimated the number of cars to be sold this year to cross 405,000.

According to The Economist Intelligence Unit’s projections, car sales will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 5.6% in 2018‑22—which balances the impact of stronger demand by women with the introduction of value-added tax (VAT) and the gradual decline of petrol subsidies.

With this new decree, it seems everyone is a winner in Saudi.

Starting Monday, June 4, Saudi Arabia began distributing the first batch of driving licences to its female citizens. Ten licences were issued so far, and most of those who were awarded driving permits had already held similar licences abroad.

Many of the Kingdom’s women have been attending driving lessons at female-only college campuses, in anticipation of the historic date.

With such a large portion of the population about to drive for the first time, what are the widespread effects on the country as a whole?

What is about to occur in Saudi Arabia has likely not happened before anywhere else in the world.

When the website for Saudi’s first driving school for women opened for online registration in February, it attracted more than 165,000 applicants in just three days.

According to a survey in 2017 by YouGov, 80% of Saudi women interviewed wanted to get their license and drive.

That’s approximately 9 million women who are about to or interested to begin driving. This huge influx of citizens entering the driving and automobile sector will have a massive impact on several of the country’s sectors and industries.

The greatest winners to come out of this entire situation are automobile companies. The incoming surge of demand for vehicles is about to shoot through the roof.

These companies have already launched several campaigns to capitalize on this change. Ford, Volkswagen and others have been quick to snare potential female buyers with promotions, campaigns and others strategies to hopefully kick-start some long-lasting brand loyalty.

A report by PWC Middle East released in March shows that car sales are expected to grow by 9% per annum until 2025. The annual growth rate for car leasing is also expected to increase significantly with an annual growth rate of 4% over 2017-2025.

The motor insurance sector in Saudi is another winner. This market is expected to grow by 9% annually between 2017-2020, arriving at a value of $8 billion.

Given that most of these women have never driven before, insurance rates are bound to be inflated as the risk of vehicular accidents will be quite high.

UK-based insurance broker firm ALA found that 21.6% of new drivers have an accident in their first year on the road.

Moreover, they discovered that new drivers are often charged with the highest insurance premiums, in comparison with more experienced drivers.

An influx of new drivers means a greater increase in traffic density. With almost half the population about to be granted access to the Kingdom’s roads, traffic rates are inevitably going to be impacted.

Traffic will also have some impact on businesses and their performance. In the UK for example, the Tomtom Traffic Index found that almost $1.2 billion is wasted by drivers stuck in traffic per year. This also adds up to 16 working days that businesses are practically losing.

To alleviate the incoming surge in traffic, the Saudi government could look into commissioning new roads and routes, which would prove a boon to contractors.

However, Google Maps and other GPS services won’t be enough to help Saudi’s new drivers traverse the roads once construction projects kick in.

Reroutes and detours do not register very accurately on these apps, and this in turn will lead to congestion and chaos as women try to navigate the urban landscape for the first time.

With the infrastructure Intelligence Center tracking 111 infrastructure construction projects in min-2017, the addition of new road projects will only lead to more headaches.

One market that will definitely suffer the fallout from the new decree is the taxi industry. Up until now, Saudi women have relied on male relatives, taxi drivers and chauffeurs to drive them around.

With women finally taking the reins, the taxi industry is about to be hit hard. However, the more forward-thinking taxi services such as Careem have already figured an appropriate strategy to combat this.

By February, they had effectively signed up more than 1,000 female drivers. This will no doubt lead to a better brand image in the region, as Careem dons a more liberal outlook to the public.

The ride-hailing company revealed that up to 70% of the app’s users in the Kingdom are in fact women, so evolving to meet the market’s new needs will be vital to prevent losses.

Permitting female citizens in Saudi to finally be able to drive will help bring the country into the 21st century, yet this massive change will have widespread repercussions that will reverberate throughout the nation.

It is up to the Saudi government to make sure this new law will transition as smoothly as possible.


Tourism Observer

SAUDI ARABIA: Non-Saudi Uber Or Careem Drivers To Be Deported

Saudi Arabia will penalise non-Saudi drivers working for ride hailing applications Uber and Careem with a fine and possible deportation, according to reports.

Rumaih Al-Rumaih, head of the Public Transport Authority, said the penalties were part of the kingdom’s saudisation of the transport sector.

“The number of non-Saudi taxi drivers in the kingdom has dropped to 30 per cent of the total. The authority aims to saudise the sector by 100 per cent,” he was quoted as saying.

“Any non-Saudi caught running the ride-sharing service will face a fine of SAR5,000 ($1,333) and possible deportation,” he said.

The official’s statements follow comments from Careem co-founder Abdulla Elyas last year, who said ride hailing companies could now only employ Saudis directly but expats could work indirectly through public and private taxi companies.

Uber and Careem were also recently banned from picking up passengers at the kingdom’s airports, similarly to the UAE.

Another official, Saeed Al-Bassami, head of the national transport committee at the Council of Saudi Chambers and the land transport committee at Jeddah Chamber of Commerce, said the said services had harmed the interests of taxi drivers in the kingdom.

He said the number of people using regular taxis had dropped by 50 per cent despite taxis fares being cheaper than using the apps.

“The Ministry of Transport is working to develop its own apps to streamline the services of taxi drivers and reserve parking space for them in various locations so that they do not obstruct the flow of traffic in cities,” Al-Bassami was quoted as saying.

The kingdom has backed both Uber and Careem with funding. In June the Public Investment Fund announced a $3.5bn investment in Uber and in December Saudi Telecom Company invested $100m for a 10 per cent stake in Careem.

EGYPT: Taxi Drivers Press Demands To Shut Down Uber And Careem

Two taxi drivers display banner: "The Egyptian Taxi is the basis" to protest against foreign ride hailing applications Uber, Careem in Downtown Cairo on February 10, 2015.

A lawsuit is expected to be filed soon by Egypt’s rights lawyer Khaled Ali, who will be representing taxi drivers against the increasingly popular companies.

Cairo’s taxi drivers on Wednesday repeated their demands to the Egyptian government to immediately ban taxi service operators Uber and Careem.
In a press conference hosted by the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights at the Egyptian press syndicate, taxi representatives said that foreign companies are creating “strife between Egyptian drivers and riders.”

They also called on Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Prime Minister Sherif Ismail to interfere to ban the services.

An initiative under the name “We’re the real taxi, not the outsiders” was launched at the press conference, with taxi drivers behind the action hopeful that Wednesday’s press conference would be the beginning of a successful campaign.

Mahmoud Abo-Ali, one of the taxi drivers speaking on stage, said that the San Franicso-based Uber and Dubai-based Careem were operating in Egypt to “steal our bread.”

Many taxi-riders have argued that people “would not have resorted to private taxi services like Uber and Careem if the normal taxis services were actually satisfactory.”

However, many taxi drivers believe that there is an organised campaign by the media and private driver companies to defame them.

“There is an organised campaign against us on social media to portray us as horrible drivers who are sexual harassers with rigid taximeters,” Sherif El-Sayed, one of the taxi drivers speaking at the press syndicate said.

Taxi drivers chanted against the private companies, saying that they were “American infiltrators.”

“We can’t stand this, we can’t stand this, you have robbed us,” taxi drivers chanted.

Another taxi driver, Walid Mohamed Sayed, told Ahram Online that he does not refute the fact that there are problematic issues with the behaviour of some taxi drivers.

Indeed, many taxi riders have been calling on taxi drivers through social media outlets to “stop ripping off Egyptians through [rigged] taximeters.”

However, Sayed added that he believes that the taxi drivers syndicate and the interior ministry should be the only parties that handle problems between drivers and passengers.

“Uber and Careem are both companies that came to Egypt to fool the state and the local taxi drivers… They don’t pay the right taxes, and they’re using the gasoline of the country," Sayed said.

Taxi drivers also argue that they have to pay thousands of Egyptian pounds to obtain a taxi license.

Uber Cairo’s Operation Manager Abdellatif Waked said they are not against taxi drivers and that they understand the fact that they might be upset about some aspects of their operations.

“Cairo has about 20 million people, the market is large, so it is possible that it can accommodate taxi drivers, Uber, and other competitors,” Waked said.

Waked also argued that they’re trying to encourage taxi drivers to join the “Uber platform,” adding that the service is open for negotiations and discussions with taxi drivers to include them in the system.

“There are many taxi drivers who have actually joined us as Uber drivers,” Waked elaborated, saying that "the door is always open for more to work with us."

Waked said Uber is licensed as a technology company in all the countries it operates in, stressing that they pay taxes and carry commercial registers.

Waked also added that the company’s partners – limousine and tourism companies – actually act as offices for anyone who wants to join Uber as a driver, saying these outlets are licensed and have their own commercial registers.

Dubai based Careem also insists it is operating legally in Egypt.

Careem’s General Manager Hadeer Shalaby said they have provided thousands of work opportunities every month to unemployed Egyptians, arguing that their service is not only important for customers, but for their drivers or “captains,” as they prefer to call them.

A lawsuit is expected to be filed soon by Egypt’s rights lawyer Khaled Ali, who will be representing taxi drivers against the foreign companies.

This is the first time since the applications’ launch in the Middle East that the private services have faced a lawsuit from taxi drivers.

In France, two Uber executives are set to face criminal charges on Thursday for the “illegal storage of personal information and the operation of a service that puts passengers in touch with car-service drivers that have no professional licenses.”

The trial comes following a series of protests by taxi drivers in France. The latest outcry by French taxi drivers against Uber came on Tuesday when drivers partially blocked roads on the edge of Paris and other areas to protest against what they say is unfair competition from such companies.