An online ride-hailing mobility firm, inDrive has said it has been recording exponential growth in its operations in Nigeria, especially during the fuel subsidy removal that raised the pump prices of petrol from N195/litre to over N600/litre.

Speaking in Lagos at a media event to mark its 10th anniversary, Business Representative for Nigeria, inDrive, Oladimeji Timothy, said the business, which is now five years in Nigeria, started experiencing massive growth during subsidy removal and that it was driven by many people seeking for an affordable alternative to things they were used to.

While pointing out that fares charged by drivers using the ride-hailing services on the app are fixed and not determined by the volume of traffic congestion experienced on the trip, he urged users of the app to always negotiate their fares with drivers before embarking on the trip.

“We embedded transparency and fairness into the ride-hailing application because the users of the app are allowed to negotiate prices with our drivers. Transparency means that there are no hidden charges even as it allows both the driver and passenger to make an informed decision about the trip by knowing whom to pick up and where the passenger is going.

“We also have a low commission at 9.9 per cent for the drivers and we started this even before ride-hailing drivers started clamouring for low commissions and it’s empowering the drivers using the inDrive app to aim more,” Timothy said.

He said the company has expanded its mobility services to 15 cities across Nigeria within five years of launching into the nation’s market.

According to him, the mobility app was first launched in Lagos, in April 2019, which was five years ago but has now expanded in cities to include Abuja, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Owerri, Jos, Benin, and Enugu among others.

He described inDrive as a startup that has grown from a company with 60 employees with one million downloads to a unicorn with 2,000 employees with over 150 million downloads.

Timothy said the company will, through the courier solution; continue to empower small businesses and individuals in Nigeria with on-demand last-mile delivery options.

In terms of logistics, he said the businesses that leverage the logistics infrastructure provided by inDrive, are saved from investing huge sums of money into buying trucks for their businesses.