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Didi is a popular ride-hailing app in China’s 1.3 billion strong population and it is planning to launch in Nigeria. Since its founding in 2012, Didi has become China’s dominant ride-hailing service, with over 550 million annual active users globally in 17 countries including South Africa, Australia, and Russia. Didi is quoted in the New York Stocks Exchange.
Didi had recently sponsored a job listing on Linkedin suggesting that the company, which launched in South Africa in March, is looking to recruit a Driver Center Manager in Lagos, Nigeria.
Last month, Didi had delayed plans to expand to Britain and Europe, partly due to political and regulatory challenges.
Competition among rideshare apps is already fierce in Nigeria. Ride-hailing companies Bolt and Uber, which arrived in Nigeria in 2014 and 2016 respectively occupy an increasingly important role in the transportation system in many Nigerian states. In terms of operations, these two companies have taken a different approach as Uber operates only in major commercial cities like Lagos, Abuja, and Port-Harcourt while Bolt operates in more cities including smaller ones like Owerri, Abia, Ebonyi, and Enugu.
Earlier in the year, under the umbrella of the Professional E-hailing Drivers and Partners Association (PEDPA), Uber and Bolt drivers in Lagos went on strike protesting the unrealistic fare prices and the high commission rates. In response to this strike, the two companies Uber increased their prices.
Just like its South African market, Didi might want to introduce different classes of services to suit different customers based on their needs and financial capacity.
Reuters recently reported that Didi is worth $68 billion after U.S. NYSE debut
