Bolt extends operations to Zimbabwe after a $542 million investment in Africa

By TechCabal

Bolt, an Estonian e-taxi company with operations across Europe and Africa, has launched its services in Harare, Zimbabwe. Bolt will not receive any commission from drivers for a minimum of six months.

The same no-commission incentive was used during the platform’s launch of operations in Zambia. In countries like Kenya, Bolt applies a standard 18% commission, and no longer requires a booking fee.

The Zimbabwe entry marks Bolt’s presence in its twelfth country, with its first launch in South Africa in 2016. Before this expansion, Bolt had conducted pilot operations in Zambia in October 2023.

According to a statement seen by TechCabal, the platform will initially undergo a pilot test, which has onboarded 300 driver partners. Zimbabwe is now Bolt’s third station in the southern Africa region and will offer ride-hailing services to both corporates and individuals.

Laurent Koerge, Head of Expansion at Bolt, said, “We are excited to be piloting our services in Zimbabwe. Our goal is not only to offer our drivers higher revenues per hire but also to ensure a high demand due to competitive prices. Accordingly, our commission is significantly lower than that of our competitors.”

In early 2023, Bolt announced its plan to invest over €500 million in the African market. One of its initiatives was to job offer opportunities for over 300,000 driver partners. Currently, the company operates in 45 countries globally, serving more than 150 million customers and working with over 3 million drivers.

The platform has worked towards enhancing the safety of its services for both riders and drivers. Addressing various safety concerns, it took the step of suspending over 10,000 drivers in Nigeria and Kenya during the last six months of 2023.

Bolt has also implemented safety features, including an SOS button, rider and driver verification, and the ability for users to notify Bolt if a driver opts to go offline during a trip.