Could Taximania Take Lusaka by Storm?
Have you ever thought it would be great if you could call one number to organize all the taxi rides you ever needed? Well Taximania is working to solve the issue of reliability when it comes to calling for a taxi. Taximania is essentially a taxi-finding startup. Only recently launched on 1st January 2014, Taximania is receiving quite some rave reviews on its Facebook page.
Picture calling your regular taxi driver and find he’s nowhere near your location, he’s knocked off, just not picking up or their phone is off. In other words, stranded! Thta’s the problem Taximania is solving. Now you can tweet, call, text or FB message the company and they will organize a taxi for you chop chop.
We spoke to one of the founders, Chali Mulenga and here’s what he told us:
Who is behind Taximania?
The company was founded by myself, Chali Mulenga, David Abdul Azeez, and Chisomo Mwanza. The idea was taken up after the Lusaka Startup Weekend and has since then been under the guiding wings of BongoHive.
What problem are you trying to solve?
The lack of reliable transportation in Lusaka. The need to actually do something to address this problem came when David and I were stuck at the airport one time due to the absence of taxis there. The difficulty to leave led us to start Taximania.
What is your background?
The three of us are all BongoHive members and have decided to take advantage of the startup incubation which the Tech Hub offers. I am currently a college student studying Purchasing and Supply. David is studying Software App Development in India and he runs part of the operations from there. While Chisomo is currently employed here in Lusaka.
Do you have any competition?
None that we are aware of. But if we do then we definitely have the upper hand over them because our service is superior. Our pricing system makes us unique in that we are able to explain how the price is calculated which is per kilometer.
Will you have an App in the future?
Yes definitely but not quite yet. First we’d like to assess the engagement levels of customers with our other platforms like Twitter, Facebook, phone and text message.
What challenges are you facing?
Lack of external investment. Currently the funding is coming from our personal savings and income but we are on the lookout for interested investors to help us grow.
What is your outlook for the current year?
On average we serve at least one customer per day. There are only 10 taxi drivers at the moment because we’d like to maintain providing the best quality to our customers. However due to the overwhelming positive feedback we keep receiving, we will probably have to expand our partnership to more than 30 drivers by the end of the year.
