Ivy Petsinger
Case Western Reserve University - Weatherhead School of Management
Michael Goldberg
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Twende, Swahili for “Let’s go!”, is a mobile app based ridesharing company centered in Dar es Salaam, the capital city of Tanzania. They have partnered with a mobile payment company, Tigo Pesa, and utilize many modes of transportation, from cars to motorcycles (“boda bodas”) and tricycles (“bajajes”).
Twende, a mobile app launched in January of 2017 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, facilitates users finding safe, reliable drivers to transport them from one place to another. Justin Kashaigili, the Founder of Twende, who initially began building business models during his undergraduate studies as a computer science and technology major, is driven by coding, overcoming entrepreneurial challenges, and the overarching impact that his business has on the community. Not a stranger to obstacles, his first venture proposed in a senior capstone course, was rejected by his university professor. The story-telling of the ideas inception exhibits a trait that radiates from the founder: drive. He is someone that appears undeterred from challenge and rejection, while possessing a deep understanding of existing business challenges: funding, growth, & competition.
Before graduating, Kashaigili started looking at an exceptional local, ride-hauling dynamic: a large percentage of the local population is still using standard modes of public and private transportation services. Taxis, in particular, are price-setters. And thus, expensive for even short commutes. Moreover, it is more economical for these drivers to solicit business in densely populated areas throughout the city. The operational geographic makes it difficult for those in rural areas to conveniently access and utilize transport services. Inconvenience and high costs coupled with a drive for innovation birthed the Twende platform, which has been growing ever since. Fast forward a year-and a few months, the firm is in the mist of launching its second platform that focuses on consumer ease of use and introduction of a product delivery service.
The idea for this innovation emerged from a personal experience of the founder, Justin Kashaigili, in which he had an incredibly poor and inefficient experience trying to travel in a bus; he waited an hour and a half and there were sixty people crammed into the bus with a capacity of twenty four passengers. Once finally on the bus, Justin looked out of the window and noticed many private cars with only drivers and open seats. During this experience, he began brainstorming how to fill in gaps and utilize those extra seats.
The Twende team understands the local community and culture much better than what some may think could be their major competition, Uber. Upon this understanding and knowledge, the Twende team has built their app around providing different transport modes which Uber does not cater to, including utilizing not only cars, but also motorcycles (“boda bodas”) and tricycles (“bajajes”) - majors modes of transportation used in Tanzania. Moreover, acknowledging the growth of electronic payment forms, Twende collaborated and later formed a partnership with mobile payment company Tigo Pesa. This partnership puts Twende in a much better position to compete in a local ride-hauling market that is poised for explosive growth. Within the first month of launching, Twende had 1000 ride requests. Later they expanded to Arusha and they plan to grow throughout Tanzania and beyond with a goal of over two million users in the next five years. This app is beneficial for drivers and users, providing opportunities to increase income for drivers and opportunities to have safe, reliable, and efficient rides for users.
Twende enables drivers to maximize their capacity. This also contributes to the economy and allows drivers to increase their income. For example, in the interview we learned about one particular driver’s story in which his increase in income that he earned from driving for the Twende app allowed him to build a house.
Twende is incredibly beneficial to users in facilitating their finding of a reliable and safe ride at competitive prices and in an efficient time. Further social benefits can be demonstrated by the story described above, where the driver for Twende and his family benefitted from his increase in income when he was able to build a house, resulting in their quality of living significantly improved.
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Justin Kashaigili, Chief Executive Officer of Twende Technologies Limited
Twende, Swahili for “Let’s go!”, is a mobile app based ridesharing company centered in Dar es Salaam, the capital city of Tanzania. They have partnered with a mobile payment company, Tigo Pesa, and utilize many modes of transportation, from cars to motorcycles (“boda bodas”) and tricycles (“bajajes”).