Uber has hired a new GM for West Africa as Safaricom-backed Little prepares to launch in a few weeks.

Uber says its new GM for West Africa, Lola Kassim, who is replacing Ebi Atawodi  will oversee the firm’s West Africa strategy, improve its UberX service and create additional value for its driver-partners who are said to be joining Little which is heavily recruiting in Lagos.

Kassim, a Nigerian-Canadian is particularly good for Uber#s growth in West Africa because of her public policy experience. She worked as an Governance Advisor with the Liberian Presidency through the Africa Governance Initiative where she was supporting a unit driving delivery of Presidential infrastructure priorities. She has also been part of the Canadian Government where she served as a Policy Advisor whose main responsibilities was developing policy, strategy, and business cases regarding socio-economic development programming for Canada’s Aboriginal communities and foreign policy.

Lola’s vision for West Africa, is to create a friction-less environment for Uber as a sustainable, alternative mode of mobility.

“In addition to creating value for driver-partners and riders, I will also be focused on ensuring that we continue to engage with our key stakeholders and relevant partners with a view to continued positive impact across West Africa,” she said.

Atawodi has moved to Uber Product Design team in Amsterdam.