Easy Taxi; creating a trusted Taxi culture

He has always had a strong interest in business, which is what led him to study business related courses in school.  Beginning in secondary school where he was able to choose his courses, he always chose business subjects to complement the mandatory arts and science subjects. His experience in New York where he worked with clients and oversaw businesses in various industries was his first real exposure to the reality of the business world.  While there, he made sure he was frequently on the lookout for potential opportunities to do something on his own.

Bankole Cardoso is a Nigerian born entrepreneur that is passionate about development in Nigeria and Africa in general.  He studied business management and accounting at Boston College and then worked in the asset management group at PriceWaterhouseCooper in New York City. While at PWC, Bankole was certified as a public accountant (CPA) and then he joined The Carlyle Group which is one of the biggest private equity firms in the world.  After his experience working abroad he had a strong desire to move back home and grow his career in Nigeria so he moved back to startup Easy Taxi in July 2013. 

The journey so far

Easy Taxi is a technology platform that gives users the convenience to book high quality taxis on demand from any location at any time. 

Easy Taxi is a global company that was launched in Nigeria in July 2013 with the goal of giving Nigerians a trusted and reliable taxi service and at the same time, using business innovation to create efficiencies in the Nigerian transportation network. Easy Taxi is more than just a taxi service; our aim is to help solve Nigeria’s urban transportation challenges and also to create a trusted taxi culture in Nigeria. 

Business in Nigeria as an entrepreneur

Nigeria is a unique and exciting place to do business and there are a lot of opportunities. By our nature we are entrepreneurial and I have met many people doing interesting things but I notice that the ones making the most impact are the ones that recognize that they are in the business for the long haul and not just searching for a quick profit.  Once you have the right objectives, people recognize that and are happy to do business with you. I think Nigeria’s population is our biggest asset and policies such as the Central Bank’s cashless economy and the democratization of the Internet all contribute to the e-commerce growth in the nation.

 Why this line of business

I was particularly inspired by this business because growing up in Lagos and then living abroad, I noticed a poor taxi culture at home compared to other big cities that I have lived in and visited.  In Lagos, people are not always willing to take taxis for safety issues and this has led to a big car owning culture, which creates a lot of traffic.  I am convinced that an easy and convenient taxi service will make people more comfortable using taxis and have a positive impact on the transportation system in Lagos.

 Fleet capacity

In Lagos we currently have over 500 taxis in our fleet and in Abuja we are approaching 200 taxis.  In just over a year this is quite the feat, as we do not just sign drivers up, we have a relationship with them. From showing them how to use a smartphone, to training them on Google maps and how to use Easy Taxi, we are having a great impact and also ensuring that they provide high quality service, which has not always been the case in the Lagos taxi industry.

 Are the drivers on your payroll? If not how does it work?

Majority of our drivers are not on our payroll.  We are able to scale up our driver fleet because we are using the existing taxi infrastructure rather than bringing more cars on to the road. Taxi drivers already have their clients and their cars so we are giving them a simple, easy way to get more customers and we are giving customers the convenience to book taxis with our massive network of drivers.  So in short, once a driver is accepted into the Easy Taxi network, he has access to more customers and he pays us a small percentage of each fare. This percentage ranges from 5-10% of the fare so drivers really benefit.

 Your latest mobile app, what are its features?

We have recently added an interactive price guide on our latest Android and iOS application.  This price tariff allows our users to gather a good idea what the price of the ride should be before they make a request.  We have also added an exciting messaging feature, which allows the passenger and the driver to send messages to each other regarding their respective statuses. The messaging is similar to Whatsapp and every message is sent within the app.  The response has been great so far. It is quite amazing that you can request and get a taxi in 10 minutes without speaking to someone.

 How does the app work?

The application works by connecting a user’s request to the closest available driver in that market in a seamless way.  Once a user requests, the promise is that there should be multiple drivers within a kilometer of the user and so the user should not have to wait long at all.  We also give the user all of the driver’s information such as his picture, name, phone number, the car to expect, the license plate of the car and most impressive, the ability to track the driver as he approaches in real time.

 Expectation for the app

 We are one of the first applications in Nigeria to provide an on demand service such as transportation.  This is extremely powerful and we have enjoyed the opportunity to be the first to bring Nigerians such an application and to give them greater value out of their smartphones.

 Flagship product

The application, which can be downloaded from the Google Play Store, the Apple Store, Blackberry World and Windows store is our flagship product.  Since launching our application, we have a separate computer based solution called Easy Taxi Professional for establishments such as hotels and bars to request taxis for their customers and we are rolling out our Easy Taxi Corporate solution too.

 Billing system

Our billing system is quite flexible. Our customers are given an idea of how much a trip will cost before they make their request through a newly added tariff feature in the application. This way, we ensure that the driver and the customer arrive at a price that is mutually beneficial.  For now majority of our clients pay drivers with cash.  The consumer preference in Nigeria is still cash but with time we expect to complete more transactions with card payments.  Our corporate clients have different monthly payment terms.

 Target clients

Our goal is to provide a safe convenient transportation option for anybody visiting or living in the cities we operate in.  Our clients range from university students to working adults to retirees. We want as many people to experience Easy Taxi as possible so we have created a customer reward system, which gives users a free ride each week as long as they use Easy Taxi at least twice that week.

Availability

Easy Taxi is currently in Lagos and Abuja. We plan to expand to other cities such as Ibadan, Enugu and Port Harcourt in the next few months. 

 Advice to unemployed youths 

My advice to the unemployed youths in Nigeria is to sell their strengths as best as they can and to do their research.  For instance, when going for a job interview make sure your CV highlights all of your achievements and have personal stories to tell your interviewer. Also reach out to people in the roles that you would like just to ask them for their opinion on certain things or ask them how they got to where they are.  You will be surprised how willing people are to talk to you. We are unfortunate that there is a shortage of jobs but experience is key; so I would advise youths to get any experience that they can and not be too picky at times. People will be impressed if you just show a willingness to learn.

Mabel Dimma