Ride-hailing company, Uber, Selects Tope Akinwumi as Country Manager for Nigeria

Ride-hailing company, Uber, has selected Tope Akinwumi as its country manager for Nigeria. Tope will be overseeing the company’s operations with a focus on growth, community engagement and policy engagement.

Since 2015, Akinwumi’s work experience has largely been in the area of growing businesses with disruptive and emerging technologies. He worked with Workforce Group as a Strategy Analyst for 6 months before moving to PricewaterCooper (PwC) Nigeria and taking the role of assistant manager of Disruptive and Emerging Tech.

He transitioned between roles in PwC for 4 years and 1 month before joining the logistics startup, Kobo360, as Operations Manager. Before leaving Kobo360, he headed the Supply Growth as well as Marketplace and Analytics departments respectively.

His unique combination of experiences cutting across growth, data analytics, operations and strategy makes him yet another valuable addition to the Uber team.

Commenting on his appointment, Akinwumi said, “When I read the job description, I knew this role was for me. Uber is igniting opportunity and changing the way the world moves, positively impacting communities and economies in the process.”

“I am excited to hit the ground running and begin engaging with our stakeholders to make Uber a better experience for all. Nigeria has some big opportunities and has unique market dynamics. I also look forward to advocating for our vision for urban mobility and striking strategic partnerships.”

Also Read: Bolt Has Over 60% Share of the Nigerian Ride-Hailing Space, The Big Question is Why?

Uber, currently, is present in 600 cities that are spread across 65 countries. It launched in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2014 and has expanded its operations to serve citizens in Abuja and Benin since then.

Its rival, Bolt, launched in November 2016, but has expanded into more than 10 states and has announced its Tricycle in January 2020.

One of the things to look out for, as Uber Nigeria’s leadership changes hand, is whether the company will take a more aggressive stance to nationwide expansion and consider new verticals as well.

Globally, Uber has yet to turn a profit from all of its operations and may never make a profit, according to the company. With a new country director, there may be significant positive contributions from Uber Nigeria to the company on a global scale.