The number 1 taxi app “Uber” is finally landing in Kenya.
The company has advertised three vacancies for the Nairobi office on its careers site, an indication it may be starting operations in the city in the coming months.
The company is looking to hire a General Manager, Community Manager and an Operations & Logistics Manager to run the Nairobi office. Filling the three positions is the HR modus operandi for Uber in almost all the cities it has launched and comes immediately after a reconnaissance team that assesses the transport network, structure and policy of a city.
Fuelled by venture capitalists and investors – including Google Ventures and Goldman Sachs- Uber’s latest funding raised $1.2 billion, valuing the firm at a whopping $40 billion. Part of the cash, will go into hiring at least 1000 personnel in the expansion markets.
Uber is already operational in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Cairo and Lagos and in over 200 other cities across US, Asia, Australia and Europe. The ridesharing company will have to contend with Brazilian start-up Easy Taxi, which is already in Nairobi and in 60 other cities
But it hasn’t been an easy ride for Uber. The company has faced resistance mainly from taxi associations in at least 20 cities in Europe and Asia which accuse the firm of circumventing taxi regulations and unfair competition. This week, Parisian taxi operators are planning to block main city roads to protest the decision by a commercial court not to ban Uber Pop – a taxi pooling off-shoot that turns private cars into taxis.