In 2016, the year of Nigeria’s worst recession since 1987, thousands of people across Nigeria – young men/women just starting out their careers and older people once secure in paid employments they held for upwards of seven years – found themselves suddenly thrown out of jobs.
Bolt, the easy conveyance app, launched in Nigeria in the thick of the recession, promising flexible work and weekly earnings as high as N120,000 and had thousands of Nigerians, men and women, sign up to drive.
While there are many ride-hailing platforms in Nigeria, findings from a survey we conducted showed that drivers prefer the Bolt platform. One of the drivers said, “Driving on Bolt is easy, the hours are flexible, and it pays the best.”
To keep the mutual relationship between the drivers and Bolt afloat, which also impacts on the riders positively, we have continued to push the Partner-Driver Scheme campaigns on a monthly basis, since 2017, through interviews in the media, entrepreneurship seminars/workshops, women empowerment forums, the International Women’s Day celebration, among others.