New ride-hailing platform, Bosscab launches in Calabar

Bosscab, a mobile-enabled ride hailing platform that provides premium, convenient and affordable cab services for users has officially launched in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.

The event which held last Friday, December 15th at the Pearl Ball Room of the Transcorp Hotel, Calabar had tech entrepreneurs and enthusiasts, businesses executives, as well as developers in the tech ecosystem.

The new Bosscab app which is promoted by Rock Results Group Nigeria Limited connects users to available cab drivers close to them, allowing them access premium cab services by requesting a ride, and enjoying top notch comfort from verified and trained drivers – all at affordable cost.

The app facilitates smooth, comfortable, and affordable transportation for commuters. With Bosscab, riders can choose from a variety of vehicles to get them to their destination quickly and comfortably. The application which leverages on mobile-based technology to deliver smart, innovative and customized transport solutions to users.

The mobile app will provide residents and commuters in Calabar a smarter and more affordable way to go by their daily activities. On the app, uers are guaranteed an easy to use platform, trained and verified drivers and a dedicated customer support team. Other cities the app will be operating are Uyo, Umuahia, Aba, Ikom and Owerri.

Giving an insight into the uniqueness of the mobile application, the CEO of Nugi Technologies, and co-founder of Bosscab, Mr. Ugi Augustine Ugi said

He said the choice of launching from Calabar was because it is a fertile ground and that is a smaller market for the company to penetrate and test its technology before proceeding to bigger cities like Abuja and Lagos. According to him, the platform was developed with a community approach as a way of giving back to the society through user-generated coupons which when accumulated can be converted to cash and donated to charity.

“Bosscab is a unique application that we have consciously put so much effort in building for the Nigerian space and we are piloting from Calabar Cross River because it’s a smaller market for us to penetrate, and it is also a place where we test out our technology and where we see if we are ready enough to go to Lagos, Abuja and the rest of the country.

“We have bult a mobile app, a web app for administrators and a mobile for riders, mobile for drivers, mechanics and down the line we plan to also integrate fueling stations and so many other eco-systems that impact life. Bosscab is not just about mobility, moving from one place to the other, its also about how we can give back to society, how we can impact lives, how we can change the narrative in the ride-hailing industry in Nigeria.

He noted that security was considered as a top priority while developing the app, which is why it was given a community approach where both the riders and drivers will have a key role to play in mitigating the system. According to him,

“When we look at security, we think security is in my hands as the business developer or the person who is bringing this to the space. But what we have done with Bosscab is quite unique because we have taken security as a community approach. So we don’t want security to be in the hands of myself or just the security agencies, we want security to be in your own hands. So we have a community program for security, and how we secure ourselves. Here we allow drivers and riders to onboard on the security program and if a driver says he is in trouble, we inform everyone that has onboarded on that security system that is within range of that driver or the rider.

“And we plan to expand this security program with time to include private security companies and also the government as well to actually help us mitigate, because if somebody sounds our SOS system, we inform everyone that’s on the security program that is close range to that person; and at the end of the day, we expect that this person should be safeguarded or be discovered on recorded time instead of waiting for the police to start an investigation.

“When I came to Calabar I met some drivers and what they said was that the existing system don’t have an SOS system that is working so they rely on WhatsApp groups, so that immediately told me that I have done the right thing by taking security as a community approach. We are now bringing it as a technology approach that they can adopt and they can use on our system.

“Currently Bosscab is bringing something very unique for drivers which is drivers’ savings. We are also bringing something we call family and friends for riders. Important is that we allow riders to form groups and with this groups you can actually ride with the groups that you belong to. Not that you are going on a ride with them but this group has a wallet, so if I have my family group, I have my siblings, my father and my mother in there and I credit 50,000 a month, all of them can actually use that wallet to ride and we have all the report transparently showing who is using what from the wallet.

“This is quite unique because its not found in any other system, not even in the world, only in Nigeria. This is what we’ve done with Bosscab and its very unique because I can be in ten groups, I can imagine me moving around with people’s money, which is actually the fun we are trying to create, that’s the community approach we are bringing to ride hailing. So not just from the security that we are growing community, also from the ride and the experience that you have, we are bringing community into it and for us that is very vital and that is very important.”

On opportunities that exist for Cross Riverians from the company, he said: “There are so many opportunities, this application wasn’t built abroad, it wasn’t built in Lagos, it wasn’t built in Abuja; it was built somewhere here in Calabar, so we have employed so many, you can see most of the staff we have in Calabar. we have employed a lot of young people in Calabar for this product. So its not just the opportunities to the drivers, it’s not just the opportunities to the mechanics, it’s the fact that we are even giving back. We are doing so many things that we believe will change the narrative.”

Speaking on the competitive advantage the app has over other ride hailing platforms, the Chief Operations Officer of Bosscab and Group General Manager, Rock Results Limited, Mr. Christian Ikechuwu Soribe said they are revolutionizing the economy of transportation in Nigeria.

“Basically you expect to see something different; we understand that we have a lot of competition and this has taken a lot of time, we have taken a lot of research, we have done a lot of work on the ground. For over two-three years now we’ve been working on this. We don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, we want our customers and all our riders to understand that there is something new, and of course we have a demography of between 16 to 35 those are our target, and we’re making sure that every product we introduce is customer friendly and very driver-friendly as well.

“First of all, security is very important because it doesn’t make sense you taking a ride and you’re not sure about your security, that’s why we are going to be the first app to have NIN as a rider and as a driver; so anybody who picks a ride we know the person who is picking the ride, nobody picks a ride for another person, because we can’t keep taking drivers being killed left right and center. On the flip side, drivers must be properly verified to be able to actually be our drivers.

“We have a standard we are trying to set; others have come they set a standard but they couldn’t keep to it, but the fact that we’re here to keep a standard that we are very sure that we will not letdown, that’s another thing.

On the friendliness of the brand, he said – “it’s a Nigerian brand, of course everything that we have done have been created by young people putting into consideration everything that is comfort, safety and of course accessibility anywhere anytime, that’s exactly what we are assuring our people.

“This is a community project, a community app that first of all, we try to create a community among the riders and the drivers whereby if for any reason you have a problem in any location, we have a safety key that your first responders are members of your immediate community before of course the law enforcement can actually take charge. It’s a community-based policing first, then we can now bring in the law enforcement to take charge.

“First of all, if you look around every infrastructure about this project is a young people-driven project. From the designers of the project to the coders to the graphics guys, everybody is a young person. We understand that customer service is a very big problem and we have made sure that our customer service is going to be running two-four-seven non-stop. We are very customer and driver-eccentric because we want to make sure that the drivers and our customers are properly taken care of.”

The grand unveiling and launch of the app which held at the Pearl Ball Room of the Transcorp Hotel in Calabar, had in attendance the Cross River State Governor, Senator Ben Ayade, who was represented by the Director General of the Cross River State Migration Control Agency, Prince Mike Abuo, the Minister of State for Science and Technology, Chief Henry Ikechukwu Ikoh, Chairman Senate Committee on Youths & Sports, Senator Mike Nnachi, Senator representing and a host of others.

Others present at the launch include former Big Brother Naija Housemates, Teddy A, Bam Bam, Lilo, as well as nollywood actress, Barbra Duba, who were all officially unveiled as brand ambassadors.