As part of the plans to expand into the South-eastern part of Nigeria, Plentywaka, the first bus-hailing app in Nigeria, would be collaborating with Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM), Nigeria’s first indigenous automotive manufacturer to bolster Plentywaka’s fleet with a host of new vehicles as they continually work at upgrading bus travel in Nigeria.
This is a first-of-its-kind collaboration for both companies coming together to foster the growth of safer, convenient, and more comfortable means of travel for Nigerians. It is perfectly coming at a time where Plentywaka just clocked one year of full operations, raised $300,000 investment, with 200,000 completed trips and 40,000+ downloads on its mobile app while concluding plans to break into the South-eastern states in the last quarter of 2020, starting with Delta State.
This partnership is set to ease the burden of commuters in the region still facing the age-old problems of a lack of safety, comfort, and convenience which has plagued Nigeria’s bus network for decades. Plentywaka is set to make a major bid to replicate the success of its tech-driven service in Lagos and Abuja to upgrade the state of bus travel in both states.
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Speaking on the partnership, Dr. Innocent Chukwuma, CEO and Founder at IVM said Plentywaka’s hunger for success propelled the partnership initiative, and combining the carmaker’s expertise and the ride-hailing company’s tech innovations, the partnership will fulfill its aim.
“We’ve been closely monitoring Plentywaka’s progress since its launch in September 2019 and their growth has been very impressive in such a short space of time. From our conversations with their founding team, we saw a company that was hungry and unprepared to rest on their laurels, which is why we were keen to support them in the next phase of their expansion.”
“Today marks a partnership between two industry leaders and our ambition is for this to develop a firm foundation for Nigeria to become a leader in bus travel across Africa. With our manufacturing expertise and Plentywaka’s strengths in tech and customer service, we are very confident we can achieve this and look forward to a long and successful relationship.”
Plentywaka Co-Founder & CEO, Onyeka Akumah, describes this partnership as a major step towards developing a robust and reliable transport system built by Nigerians for Nigerians. In his words, he said, “We are two brands that have lived through an outdated transport system in Nigeria and we’re joining forces to bring our country into an era that is long overdue and driven by technology.”
“We know what our people want and we know what they deserve – a safer, more comfortable and efficient means of transport and as the traction in our first year shows, we have the technology to make this a reality. With IVM on board, we’re breaking into new territory so riders in the South-eastern states are not left behind.”
With the new partnership in effect, Plentywaka is set to expand its range of options for riders as it pushes to capitalize on the surging demand for its service.
Founded in 2007 by Innocent Chukwuma, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) is part of the Innoson Group and is the first “Made In Africa” automobile brand. With IVM’s manufacturing plant based in Anambra State, Nigeria, the partnership with Plentywaka is the first of its kind for the company as it makes its first entry into the e-hailing space.
Plentywaka has overcome the tech glitches that stymied its growth earlier in the year, to seek expansion to different parts of the country as demand for its services surge. Procurement of vehicles was another challenge that stood on its way to expansion. With partnership with Innoson, the ride-hailing app has the needed leverage to extend its services to the Southeast and other parts of Nigeria.
Innoson is carving out a new niche with partnership with transport companies. The Nigeria’s indigenous carmaker, earlier announced partnership with Uber and Bolt to provide ride-hailing services in the Southeast, through a hire-purchase scheme designed to empower drivers.