Tech company inks deal with KIA, looks to create over 3000 jobs

folarin okunola

September 9, 2015 11:59 AM

The company’s model, which allows users to share rides, connects them with drivers within their vicinity and pay for services using their credit cards, has disrupted the cab industry all across the world.

Uber General Manager for sub-Saharan Africa, Alon Lits

Barely two years after it launched in Johannesburg, San-Francisco based tech firm, Uber, is already making major inroads into major African cities.

And the company is still going strong. In Lagos, Nigeria, Uber has partnered with KIA Motors in a deal that will enable its drivers get cheaper vehicles.

READ: Chinese woman robbed, raped by driver in three-hour nightmare

According to Afkinsider, the deal will cut down payment on new cars by up to 55 percent to N95, 000 from as much as N200, 000, which will likely increase the number of drivers in Lagos to about 3, 000.

In an interview, Uber’s general manager for sub-Saharan Africa, Alon Lits said, “Since we launched in Lagos just over a year ago, more than 600 job opportunities have been created using the application. That’s really just the beginning. We feel that the number can be well over 3,000 by the end of 2016.”

That’s laudable by many standards considering that the company has been battling with poor mapping and heavy congestion in Lagos, Nigeria – which is its main area of operation in the country.

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