Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing is getting set to launch its operations in Nigeria, Africa’s largest market soon.
The company which was founded in 2012, is China’s dominant ride-hailing service with 550 million annual active users globally.
On the 29th of March, Didi broke into the African market through South Africa where it first launched its services. South Africa marks the 17th country where the company is operational.
Nigeria is expected to be its next call for expansion as it is known to contain the largest market in Africa.
A job listing according to reports suggests the company is looking to recruit a Driver Center Manager in Lagos, Nigeria.
According to the job listing, 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 a successful launch, participate in projects to support overall business goals, effectively manage a service team from across multiple cities and many more as it is considered to be a full-time role.
According to findings every country which Didi operates in has such a position. Beyond the job placement, sources say that the e-hailing company is headhunting for impressive talents to fill in various senior positions when it launches in Nigeria and is already talking to prospective first members of staff.
Although the Asian ride-hailing giant wasn’t initially enthusiastic about its venturing into the African space, Didi however appears to be adapting quite well to the African market.
Zheng Yu, Chinese professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs at China’s Fudan University in an online publication stated “Although Africa’s consumption power and overall economic development are low, public demand for travel has continued to rise over the past two decades, which gives Didi a great space to develop”.
He also noted that the company will undoubtedly face certain challenges- “Didi needs to adapt to local consumption habits and make great improvements. Otherwise it might go the way of Uber, which lost out on the Chinese market”.
By launching in Nigeria, the company plans to leverage the increasing demand for public transport in the country. A race to the bottom approach seems to be the company’s most appropriate option in the midst of fierce competition among other ride-hailing companies like Bolt and Uber.
