Uganda's indigenous ride-hailing Safeboda is set to resurge in Kenya

SafeBoda makes a comeback in Kenya after a three-year absence.
The decision to exit in 2020 was driven by COVID-19 challenges and a focus on the Ugandan market.
The ride-hailing giant re-enters a competitive landscape with challenges, including government taxation increases.

The company announced its return to the Kenyan market via X, formerly known as Twitter, with the simple tweet, “Tumerudi! (We are back). SafeBoda is coming to Nairobi,” the firm announced on Monday on its website, with a countdown timer indicating that it will relaunch in Kenya in 13 days.

As seen in the Kenyan news publication, BusinessDaily, back in 2020, the COVID-19 quarantine which drastically restricted movement globally, had made the business of the ride-hailing company non-viable. As a result, Safeboda decided to pack up and focus its resources on its original market.

“While Nairobi is seeing some economic recovery from Covid-19, boda transportation has been hit hard. This has meant our business cannot sustainably operate in this environment and unfortunately, the timeline for a full recovery is not certain,” the firm announced at the time.

At the time the company halted operations, it had a network of more than 4,000 boda boda riders. Estimates show that 1.8 million boda boda (bicycles and motorcycle taxis) riders reside in Kenya, making it a major source of livelihood.

Safeboda, which utilizes 2 wheel vehicles for its services launched in Uganda in 2014, four years later, it established its presence in Nairobi, offering competitive prices for transportation and logistics services.

The BusinessDaily report states, “Competition has gone a notch higher in the ride-hailing business, and as such, the Ugandan entity will have its work cut out to wrestle market share from leading players such as Bolt. It is also coming back at a time when the government has accelerated taxation to increase revenue collection, straining firms.”