“What a man can do, a woman can do even better.” Are you in tune with this statement?
The Taxi sector has become very common in Kenya, with around ten top companies. This technology has made traveling within cities very reliable, fast and safer. It is however known to be a male-dominated field. To be honest I’m yet to be use an Uber or Taxify with a female driver. Why do they avoid hiring female drivers? Or is it the women that shy away from the masculine field? Ironically, some say women are more cautious drivers than men.
Have you heard about the Africa’s first women only cab hailing app? An Nisa (which means for women in Arabic) is the name of the company located here in Kenya. Yes, a female entrepreneur, Mehnaz Saarwar has just launched a new company that will be hiring only women drivers. Bold move if you ask me. This is especially because it’s out there to compete with Uber, Taxify and Little cab that are currently the most popular taxi companies in the country. Furthermore, it will be carrying women and children within major towns. This is exactly what we needed after all the insecurity and abuse cases over the past years by taxi drivers. I must say, as a woman, that this is indeed empowering and a great employment opportunity for ladies out there. I don’t know about you, but I think some customers will certainly feel safer being driven by their counterparts. Besides, I believe women are better marketers! Some individuals always shy away from being driven by men because of their rigid culture, religion and insecurity issues, so this will surely be their go to.
Women are hired as drivers in Egypt and Jordan. Pakistan, which has mostly Muslim citizens, has their Taxi hailing company for women called Careem. It was dispatched in 2012 and currently has over 90,000 drivers and four million users registered in it app. An Nisa might take a while to peak but with time it will definitely be a success in our country and expand in a few years to come. People might have difficulty accepting it but once we all get used to seeing female taxi drivers in the city, it will be more acceptable. Rome was absolutely not built in a day.
