If the situation of transport in Yaoundé and Douala had to be summarized in one sentence, it would be “more taxis, less security.” Taxis are not always clean, and drivers often have negative attitudes. It is precisely for this reason that Barbara NJOH – who already had experience in the sector of car rentals – established in July 2015 EASY RIDE, a Car service with drivers. Her colleague Wilfried Chokoteu has joined her as Chief Operating Officer. Who would not want to be part of such a promising project? In less than a year, EASY RIDE has 25 vehicles spread between Yaounde and Douala, 70 employees, more than 25,000 runs to his credit and over 2000 subscribers. EasyRide has also launched its app, available on Android and IOs.
Inspire Afrika Magazine: How did you meet and what was the key element that made you know that you wanted to work together?
Barbara Njoh: We connected last August through a mutual friend to whom I mentioned my idea and who wanted to assist me in the development of the mobile application and the service management software. Since he was out of Cameroon at this time, he asked me to meet Wilfried to who I explained in details the idea I had so that he could qualify the need in an IT solution. After an hour of brainstorming, it seemed obvious that we should deepen and formalize the ideas we shared.
I.A.M: Which business model did you choose?
Wilfried Chokoteu: To build up our project we chose the “business model canvas” method (from the Business Model Generation book). This process provides a comprehensive view of the service which is about to get launched and therefore helps to identify what the main issues are: What is the value proposition? Which customer segment do you want to serve? What are your key resources? What is your revenue stream? All essential questions we asked ourselves in order to set the basis of our service. These questions have also allowed us to define our market penetration strategy.
Read More on page 21 of the 18th issue
