A job advert making the rounds on various Nigerian job placement websites suggests that Chinese Ride-hailing service Didi might be launching its service in Nigeria.
On the 29th of March, Didi broke into the African market through South Africa where it launched its services. The ride-hailing service’s launch in South Africa marks its 17th country where it is operational. After its launch in South Africa, Nigeria is expected to be its next call for expansion, as it has the largest market in Africa.
According to the job advert, Didi is looking for a Driver Center Manager with the location clearly stated being Nigeria. According to the advert, the key responsibilities for the role include Defining the experience and operations strategy for the program, Collaborating with Ops and Didi’s team to support the successful launch, Participating in projects to support overall business goals, Effectively manage a service team from across multiple cities, while ensuring key performance indicators are met and behavioural competencies are managed, etc. The position is being advertised as a full-time role.
The company is reportedly looking for impressive talents to fill its senior positions when it launches in Nigeria. The company will be facing competition from the likes of Uber, Bolt, InDriver, and co, that have already consolidated their positions in the Nigerian market. It is expected that Didi launches with full force if it wants to thrive in the Nigerian market where ride-hailing and delivery services have already been provided by other global giants.
It is important to know that launching in Nigeria and at some point, South Africa, wasn’t part of what Didi planned at all. The company launched into South Africa because it wanted t set an African footprint with South Africa before heading over to Europe and taking the continent by storm through Germany.
By launching in Nigeria, the company plans to leverage the increasing demand for public transport in the country. Experts are, however, saying that the company will have to adapt to the local consumer habits of Nigerians if it wants to thrive.
Didi was launched in 2012 and has risen to become one of the top global ride-hailing services. It currently has over 550 million active users and tens of millions of drivers, according to Wikipedia.
