Guess who just clocked one and is ready to expand into more territories? These guys!
Plentywaka started running in Nigeria – Lagos specifically – on September 16, 2019.
On Wednesday, it became a year since the company entered into the Nigerian e-hailing space and launched its mobile app.
Celebrating @PlentywakaNG at 1🥳
190,000+ completed rides
40,000+ riders
100 Pilots
60 partners
2 statesAnd we are just getting started!
Thank you for a being a part of our growth💛#Anniversary #Plentywaka #Staytuned #Movebetter pic.twitter.com/ZPuK4fzAmk
— Treepz (@treepzglobal) September 16, 2020
The bus-hailing start-up has performed excellently in a field that’s relatively less competed as a result of its complexities.
Last year, Opay had to fold in its bus-hailing vertical.
This was due to the hardship that it met while trying to structure its operations.
Opay had been quite successful at running several other verticals like Oride, Ocar, and Owealth.
However, they were forced to hang operations for OBus due to overwhelming challenges.
The struggles
It wasn’t entirely easy for Plentywaka to create a viable business model too.
Its initial stages were full of several daunting moments.
However, the company managed to perform amazingly.
It started with 25 vehicles and completed 1000 rides in its first month.
After the first month, the numbers began to fluctuate.
At an event to celebrate its first anniversary, Plentywaka Co-founder and CEO, Onyeka Akumah, revealed that the start-up’s volume of business eventually increased from December to February.
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The triumphs
As of December, the company got to an average of 20 to 30 rides each day.
In a short time, their daily rides increased to 40 per day.
After maintaining this performance for a period, the company took a huge leap in January.
It started to take up to 200 – 300 rides on a daily basis.
Plentywaka hit an all-time high in February.
In that month, the company completed a whopping 1800 rides.
The hiatus
The COVID-19 pandemic affected several businesses in Nigeria, and Plentywaka was not an exception.
As a result of the ravaging Coronavirus, Plentywaka had to suspend its operations.
Onyeka stated that the company witnessed a downturn starting from March.
This experience continued into April when the company hit an all-time low.
According to Onyeka, “there was literally nothing” in that month.
In a bid to keep the business running in that difficult time, the company had to be innovative.
Hence, the launch of Logistics by Plentywaka.
This logistics arm was designed to help people safely transport items from one place to the other during the period.
The comeback
As the lockdown eased out, Plentywaka was able to return to its basic operations.
The start-up recovered fully in August this year.
At the end of the month, it recorded an average of 1600 to 1700 rides.
This almost matched its performance pre-COVID-19. An awesome swing back if you ask me.
Onyeka revealed that he was quite astonished by the company’s performance.
In one year, they have completed 190,000 rides and have served over 40,000 customers.
Quite frankly, this was more than he envisioned at the beginning.
Last month, Plentywaka raised a $300,000 pre-seed fund to extend its service to other states.
Currently, Plentywaka only serves Nigeria’s economic hub – Lagos state.
In the coming months, it will extend its service to Abuja and, subsequently, other states.
Onyeka revealed that they are considering a state in the South-eastern region of the country.
The company’s aspiration is to complete at least 500,000 rides in the coming month.
Have you ever taken a ride on the Plentywaka bus before? Let us know what the experience was like in the comment section.
and then