Tech start-ups
Somali delivery, taxi and shopping apps: Gulivery, ZIQQI, Dhaweye and Guurdoon
From about 2017 young Somalis, some of them back from abroad, started app businesses in Hargeisa and Mogadishu. Gulivery (2017) delivered meals and groceries and added motorbike taxis in Mogadishu in 2019. ZIQQI (late 2017) sold goods online from Hargeisa. Dhaweye, a Hargeisa taxi app launched in March 2019, had 2,080 drivers within six months. Guurdoon, a marriage app, launched in Mogadishu in October 2022. Several take payment by phone.
The short version
From about 2017 small firms in Hargeisa and Mogadishu began selling delivery, taxi rides and goods through phone apps, taking payment by phone (Disrupt Africa, 8 March 2019). Some were started by Somalis who had come back from abroad.
Gulivery
Gulivery was started in 2017 by a husband and wife who had moved back to Hargeisa from London. Its app let people order meals and groceries from restaurants and supermarkets and have them delivered. It soon opened in Mogadishu, and in March 2019 it added motorbike taxis there: riders order a moto-taxi in the app, pay by phone, and get a helmet, and every ride is insured (Disrupt Africa, 8 March 2019).
ZIQQI
ZIQQI is an online shop founded in late 2017 by three partners. It opened in Hargeisa in February 2019, and by June that year said it had delivered more than 2,000 parcels there and was also working in Somalia, Rwanda and Mali. In June 2019 it launched a US site so that Somalis abroad could buy goods for relatives at home, paying by card (Hiiraan Online, June 2019).
Dhaweye
Dhaweye launched a taxi app in Hargeisa in March 2019. By September 2019 it had signed up 2,080 drivers and said it served up to 10,000 customers a day, at a fixed fare of $0.50 per kilometre. Drivers using one of the company's cars paid it $10 a day. A spokesperson said the firm was founded by young people from Hargeisa and from the diaspora to reduce unemployment (Radio Ergo, 16 September 2019).
Guurdoon
Guurdoon ("seeking marriage") was launched in Mogadishu in October 2022 by the Guryosamo family development centre as a marriage app based on Islamic values, not a dating app. Users pay a $1 fee to start. Its founders told AFP in June 2023 that tens of thousands of people, including Somalis abroad, had signed up (AFP via The Star, 22 June 2023).
Related
- Somali tech start-ups: directory
- WAAFI and EVC Plus, the mobile money services these apps rely on
- How start-ups reached people on basic phones
Sources
- Disrupt Africa, 8 March 2019 · disrupt-africa.com
- Hiiraan Online, June 2019 · hiiraan.com
- Radio Ergo, 16 September 2019 · radioergo.org
- AFP via The Star, 22 June 2023 · thestar.com.my
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Where this matters
- Muqdisho (Mogadishu) and BanaadirMogadishu (Muqdisho) is Somalia's capital and makes up the Banadir region, with about 2.97 million people in 20 districts.
- Hargeysa (Hargeisa) and Woqooyi GalbeedWoqooyi Galbeed is the north-western region that holds Hargeisa (Hargeysa) and the port of Berbera, with about 1 to 1.45 million people.
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