Ride-Hailing Platform Launches in Rwanda
A new ride-hailing app called Gawana is coming to Rwanda in March. The aim is to offer travelers an alternative to buses.
New ride-hailing app Gawana will have an invite-only launch in Rwanda during the first quarter of 2017, according to a report by Disrupt Africa. Gawana means “take part” in Swahili.
“This concept of ride-sharing already takes place on an informal level: cars will stop at the bus station before departing on their journey to pick up stranded travelers in need of a ride,” Darcy Dwyer, co-founder of Gawana, told Disrupt Africa.
Dwyer says that long distance ride-hailing has great potential in East Africa since the bus system is often unreliable and inefficient.
Gawana is looking to expand to Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, with the plan of expanding throughout Eastern and Southern Africa, according to the report.
Click here for the full Disrupt Africa report.
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