Apparently Mr. Shagaya acquired the domain a little over a year ago in May 2014…begs the question if he acquired the URL with the ridesharing idea in mind? Had convos with Damilola Teidi already begun at that time? Or did Mr. Shagaya happen to have a URL that fit and magnanimously donated it while the team was searching for a good name? Interesting either way.
Who is Bill Paladino - the other non-CcHub guy on GoMyWay’s board? Google tells me he’s the former CEO of e-commerce at MIH Internet Africa (a Naspers subsidiary) that ostensibly resigned (but was more likely pushed out) when Naspers’ new CEO came on board in April 2014. Like with Bankole Cardoso, it’s not clear what he’s been doing since he resigned as CEO of his previous venture, but it seems Mr. Paladino is still active in Africa, specifically Nigeria, and is likely an investor along with Mr. Shagaya…so GoMyWay has some serious e-commerce marketplace expertise at the board level, and potentially easier access to future growth financing (if they get traction). It’ll be interesting to watch this space develop.
The other domain’s Mr. Shagaya owns (http://reversewhois.domaintools.com/simdul-shagaya), include gomyway.co.ke and gomyway.co.za so GoMyWay seems to be starting with pan-African expansion as a future goal. There’s also ownership of kpay.ga and kpay.ma (Gabon and Morocco) - interesting to think about why Konga Pay would want/need separate domains? And why these countries?
Someone should throw some weight behind Jekalo to make things interesting. Spoke with the guy 2 days ago, he clearly knows what he’s doing, he’s clearly not backing down too.
How do they intend to make money? And if someone goes my way today, I can just get his number and call directly to find ou when next he is going my way. How is this prevented?
And if they are not going your way at the exact time you want? Won’t you need to go back to the platform then? Platforms like these depend on the asynchrony of needs and intent to prevent disintermediation. The platform has utility because they can pool everybody’s intent in one place, and match the ones that converge. Dele is not likely to be going your way today, but maybe Funke, Obi or George are.
Competition is great for Jekalo as it will give the founding team more reasons to succeed. Gomyway might have experienced investors and more cash than Jekalo, however, they might not be the first tech company to burnout a huge pile of seed funds without concrete execution or completion of their experiments.
The battle narrows down to GROWTH! Which of the two will be ready to hit the road, spread the news rapidly, and attract the millions of users waiting for them?
I find a strong similarity between it and GoMyWay. But as far as I can tell, trust and safety of both ride owners and ride sharers will be compelling factors to deal with in the Nigerian context.
Here in Europe, those issues are also present albeit on a much more played down scale. When using blablacar, i’m more worried about the driver not showing up than him kidnapping me.
All said, I’m excited to see how both Jekalo and GoMyWay serve the Nigerian market as it appears they have slightly different market segments to address
You haven’t read this article, that’s why you haven’t seen it
Motoni began to talk with potential users. Usually people who had shared rides with complete strangers. Building on their feedback and advice, he put together an Android app. In the course of developing his platform, he would draw inspiration from working versions of the product in other markets like Zimride and BlaBlaCar. Then in December 2014, Motoni took his idea to the Co-Creation Hub.
