It’s been reported that Easy Taxi are on their way out of Africa as a market, following a similar retreat in Asia, to focus on Latin America. They have been here for about two years, signing up operators in Nairobi, and later in Nakuru and Mombasa, with some good traction.
They have done this without attracting the attention that rival Uber does or drawing battles with local taxi drivers. Flying under the Uber radar may have also meant that Uber caught all the funding attention in the taxi-hailing world, so even where Easy had a lead, all that was forgotten after Uber arrived in new markets..
Easy had formed partnerships with many Nairobi corporations, events and concerts, and even banks to finance their growing fleet of taxi drivers. The taxi market remains vibrant and there are rumours that other companies may be planning to take over their operation. Easy Taxi Africa is a part of AIG (Africa Internet Group) which encompasses other locally familiar brands including Jovago, Lamudi, Hello Food and Jumia.
I think some brands have a lot of power….sometimes even over how much better their product is compared to the competitors.