South African football legend and African Cup of Nations winner Mark Fish and his chauffeur Paul, were the fisrt in Africa to test Uber, an app that is set for a kill in Africa and probably be a pain to Cape Town-based Zapacab, which also has plans to expand across Africa.
Several reason can explain why Uber choose Johannesburg as their first city in Africa than Rocket Internet’s preference of Lagos Nigeria.
Firstly, Johannesburg is the economic powerhouse of South Africa, is home to JSE Limited, the largest stock exchange on the continent and the 16th biggest in the world and over 70 percent of South African companies have their headquarters here.
With over 3,2 million inhabitants in the city with 42 percent of the population under the age of 24 and 49 percent under the age of 34.
Secondly, the M1 highway is not an easy ride for drivers and can an be crushing especially with the notoriously high speed limits.
Uber therefore wants to be part of the solution.
Uber’s “secret testing phase”, is not for everyone but the firm said its working hard to make additional Ubers available every day.
Image1, image 2 Uber.