When I read about the launch of HerRyde, Nigeria’s first women-only ride hailing service provider, I was moved to evaluate the impact of such business beyond the understandable emotion behind the service. Here are few questions HerRyde needs to answer to avoid a predictable failure of the startup.
Is there a problem that needs solving?
There is a popular story about a UN worker posted in a remote village in Africa and when she saw that the women had to walk several kilometers to the stream to get drinking water, she immediately had a ‘light bulb moment’ Eureka! What these women need is a clean pipe-borne water in the village to save them from walking kilometers to get water, sounds good right? Wrong!
Few weeks later, she returned to the villages and noticed that the women had destroyed the water boreholes. When she inquired, the women told her that the walk to the stream is the only opportunity they get to leave the house and interact with other women, share information on women’s health and provide listening ears to one another.The culture and religion of those villages do not allow women to leave the home, it dawned on her that what the women craved for was freedom and providing water in their homes took away that freedom.
Gender-based violence in Nigeria is on the rise. Gender-based violence in Nigeria, encompassing rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment, child marriage, and female genital mutilation (FGM), manifests through physical, sexual, psychological, and economic abuse, often rooted in unequal power dynamics between men and women. With around 20 million survivors, Nigeria accounts for 10% of the global total of 200 million survivors and ranks third in the world for FGM incidence. The highest risk of FGM in Nigeria occurs during the first year of a girl’s life (NDHS 2018).
According to the Commonwealth Foundation , the 2018 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) report documented the prevalence of violence against women in Nigeria. It indicated that 31% of Nigerian women between ages 15 and 49 have experienced physical violence while 9% have experienced sexual violence. Spousal violence was 36% for ever-married women in the country.
With no doubt, women in Nigeria are increasingly facing gender based violence and there has been recorded cases of ride sharing service drivers committing some of these crimes.
Are women better drivers than men?
All things being equal, the data shows that on the average, women are better drivers than men.
Women are better drivers than men, no matter what you measure and how you measure it.
A 2020 study of road fatality data found that men cause twice as many fatal car accidents per mile driven as women do. It seems that the first step toward being good at something is not killing people while doing it, but men fail other measures, too.
According to every measure of driving competence, women scored higher. Men were more likely to hit other cars, potholes, and objects in the road, to suddenly brake, and to rapidly accelerate. In a study that will surprise no woman who has ever ridden with a stubborn man, men are less adept at navigation than women. They’re more likely to get lost, driving on average 276 more miles a year because they are lost—20 more miles per year than women waste being lost.
If there is an obvious need to keep women safe in Nigeria especially via ride-sharing apps, and data shows that women are better drivers than men, why then would a female-only ride service fail?
What could go wrong?
One of the cases I enjoyed during my MBA is when a case starts with ‘put yourself in the shoes of XYZ, the CEO of ABC”. It gives me a better sense of understanding the problem, not as a user or investor, but as the owner of the project and the person on whom all blames will fall on if the project fails.
The 5 major reasons why I believe HerRyde will fail are highlighted below;
1. Lack of detailed market analysis
Given, Nigeria has a large population, but the number of women who can afford and regularly use ride-hailing services is relatively small. Income disparities and lower disposable incomes among many Nigerian women limited the market size.
Nigeria ranks 123rd with a score of 0.639 out of a total of 146 countries. The ranking on gender gap parity, uses parameters according to the World Gender Gap Report 2021 on metrics like economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, political appointment and financial exclusion/wealth accumulation of the female gender in the world.
Although Nigeria currently lacks data on the disparity in wealth gaps between men and women, One research says that men are often paid twice what women are paid for the same labour. The gender pay gap calculator says that Nigerian men earn 71% more on average than Nigerian women.
Generally, more than 100m Nigerians are living below the poverty line, additionally, women earn even less than men and in some cases 77% less than their male counterparts! How do you get women-only drivers AND riders to patronize a service that is designed for the Middle Class when few women are in the same Middle Class? The idea of HerRyde is faulty from this point raised.
2. Security Investments: Ensuring the safety of drivers and passengers in Nigeria, where crime rates can be high, requires substantial investment in security measures, including GPS tracking, emergency response systems, and comprehensive driver vetting.
3. Cultural Barriers: Traditional gender roles in Nigeria can discourage women from taking up jobs as drivers. Families and communities may view driving as unsuitable or unsafe for women, leading to a limited pool of potential female drivers.Alternative employment opportunities that are perceived as safer or more socially acceptable for women could draw potential drivers away from the ride-hailing industry.
4. High Crime Rates: Nigeria’s high crime rates, particularly in urban areas, pose significant risks. Any incident involving a female driver or passenger could severely impact the service’s reputation and deter both users and drivers. The irony is that having women only in a car at night in Nigeria makes it significantly more prone to attack. The effectiveness of local law enforcement and emergency response services varies, which could undermine safety assurances provided by HerRyde.
5. Gender Norms: Before writing this short piece, I did a quick survey among women on my WhatsApp and the result, albeit not scientific data, shows that 78% still prefer to be driven by a man in a ride-sharing app for their safety.
Strong cultural norms regarding gender roles may discourage both drivers and passengers from participating. For example, some families may not permit women to drive or use ride-hailing services alone.
In conclusion, an addition of a safety feature to the existing ride hailing services would help mitigate the insecurity problem for both men and women. Ability to use an in-app panic button when a rider is unsafe that generates a direct call to the state’s emergency service could be implemented by the government on existing ride-sharing apps. The Lagos State government introduced a levy on ALL ride sharing apps and this is paid by the ride instantly, the same energy could be used to ensure the safety of these rides by adding additional safety features.
HeyRyde wants to solve the problem of safety of women, however, launching a women-only ride sharing service might not be the best way to go about it. This is not Bumble, emotions don’t run business, facts and figures do not respect anyone’s feelings. In the end, although my expert knowledge foresees a non-profitable venture that is at risk of bankruptcy, only time will tell and I wish them good luck, because they will need it in this rough business climate..
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