On-demand motorbike hailing service, Gokada has announced that it will be pivoting into deliveries and boat services. This development is coming a few days after Lagos state placed a ban on commercial motorcycles and tricycles. Gokada recently announced that it was laying off 80% of its workforce, a move the CEO admits was necessitated by the ban.
But a few public reactions revolve around the pace of Gokada’s overhauling. Some think the move accentuates stories of the company’s struggles and mismanagment, which led to the resignation of former CEO Deji Oduntan. Fahim Saleh tells TechCabal that Gokada’s finances are in place and that the company was headed in the right direction.
According to him, delivery was always in the company’s masterplan.
Gokada CEO, Fahim Saleh.
Saleh noted the startup is still in talks with the government and other stakeholders, but it he is still confident that they can scale a delivery service product soon enough, so their drivers to return to earning money. He also said the boat service will launch sometime in February. “In between government approval and getting investors to back us for scale, there is still a lot of work that has to be done in this regard. I want to get hundreds of these boats in the water,” Saleh said.
