Taxi-Hailing Veteran Banks on Mobile Money

May 28 , 2022


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A taxi hailing industry leader has partnered with state-owned Ethio telecom to avail clients a new payment option. Ride's passengers can now use the telecom operator's Telebirr mobile money platform to pay for their trips. The agreement between the two companies also looks to onboard Ride drivers as salespeople for Ethio telecom. They will augment close to 700 sales centres operated by Ethio telecom by selling subscriber identity module (SIM) cards. Ride, co-founded by Samrawit Fikru as a subsidiary of Hybrid Designs Plc, began operations in March 2017 with a capital of 40,000 Br. It quickly rose to the forefront in Ethiopia's nascent ride-hailing industry. However, the company faces stiff competition in the form of Feres, which has gained significant market share since it became available for download in early 2020. Telebirr has garnered over 18 million users since it was launched a year ago.


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