Safe Boda and Shiny Object Syndrome.
When Elly Wamala invented the BodaBoda in 1992 he had very high expectations for the versatile motorbike, and as far as invention and expectations go, traditional BodaBodas have lived up to every expectation. The one thing he did not know though, is how the transport service would work as a highly organized service run by a tech business like Safe Boda.
Over the years, traditional Boda Bodas have become a vital part in the impossible logistical mess that commuting and doing business in Uganda is, and it’s no wonder that they have taken over all East African cities. BodaBodas have over time evolved to play a very vital role in every Ugandan’s life, as most people have a ’Boda guy’ or two on speed dial in case they need groceries delivered or a whole house moved in the dark of night.
Safe Boda’s attempt to re-invent and repurpose the BodaBoda into an organised block of riders who follow rules, pay tax, and work under a rigid code of ethics was, although visionary, overly ambitious.
The ride-hailing application has since its launch brought order to the bodaboda business — reintroducing the service to the Ugandan corporate upper class and concurrently spreading operations into Kenya and Rwanda. For the model to work though, Safe Boda had to take riders through a re-education school of some kind, and to give credit where it’s due, graduate riders of the school are the most disciplined of the whole lot.
However, aside from a very devastating COVID19 lockdown, where most public transport was halted indefinitely, the ride-hailing app has been investigated and found guilty by NITA-Uganda for unlawfully sharing user information with CleverTap, a US based Data Company. These problems, right at the very beginning of a digital paradigm shift that could have otherwise been a great thing for businesses with online operations, Safe Boda’s prospects are frankly quite dim and the company find itself a very long way from when everyone’s only worry was whether their riders had extra hairnets.
The app’s rather insensitive and strict user policy is one other way that Safe Boda is setting itself up for failure. As most other traditional businesses are moving online, and users are paying closer attention to user terms, the boda app couldn’t have picked a worse time to become cyber enemy number one.
The investigation and subsequent change in Safe Boda user policy, reflecting a much more strict policy on everything from liability in case of customer injury to harassment, have led to a social media uproar. One of the terms states that they are not going to be responsible for anything that happens to users whether it be during or after the ride.
Ugandans are famous for suffering from shiny object syndrome, as we are easily attracted and very trusting of anything that’s new regardless of whether it is actually better or worse than the thing it’s trying to replace, but it’s now safe to say that Safe Boda is on its way out of this shiny category and sinking fast.
