Nairobi News

HashtagNews

SafeBoda rides out of Kenyan market, cites Covid-19 effects

By Amina Wako November 17th, 2020 1 min read

Boda Boda motorcycle hailing company Safe Boda has announced plans to halt its operation in Kenya from Friday, November 27.

In a statement, the company attributed the service “pause” to the harsh economic environment caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has adversely affected the ride and delivery services.

“SafeBoda has made a very difficult decision to pause rides and send services from November 27, 2020. While Nairobi is seeing some economic recovery from COVID-19, bod transportation has been hit hard. This has meant our business cannot sustainably operate in this environment and unfortunately the timeline for a full recovery cannot be certain,” SafeBoda indicated.

The company further asked its customers to exhaust wallet balances before November 27 by taking rides and sending packages, putting doubts on its return to the market.

“Those who are unable to spend the balance on their wallet will have their money refunded to their mobile money before November 27, they just need to call our offices,” a representative for SafeBoda told Nairobi News.

Despite exiting the local market, SafeBoda which launched operations in Nairobi in 2018, will retain the rest of its continental footprint as it seeks to intensify its presence in other markets including neighbouring Uganda and Nigeria.