Last week, Tech Nova had an interview with Marjorie Saint Lot, the current interim country manager for Uber Ghana. We asked Marjorie questions on the theme of 2021 and what goals and achievements Uber managed to attain in that previous year.
On the theme of safety, Marjorie Saint Lot stated how Uber had been committed to safety and continued to implement safety features including Ride Selfies.
An issue that has been brewing in Ghana is Uber drivers constantly preferring cash to card trips due to slow payouts. When asked if Uber would be implementing mobile money payouts for drivers, Marjorie stated that Uber does not have any plans for this at the moment.
Uber does have a partnership with Zeepay and Moove where Uber drivers reportedly get payouts from Mobile Money.
Still on the topic of drivers, we asked to confirm if Uber had reduced the commission fee for its drivers. Marjorie Saint Lot did indeed confirm that Uber had reduced the commission from 25% to 20% after feedback from drivers and the change had been effected in December 2021.
When asked about the possibility of the commission fee being further reduced, she stated that Uber would still listen to feedback from drivers but for now, the fee would remain at 20%.
Uber currently operates in 4 cities in Ghana including Cape Coast, Accra, Kumasi, and Takoradi. We asked about the competition from their nearest competitor Bolt which currently operates in the aforementioned cities as well as Sunyani and how they view competition. Marjorie Saint Lot stated she doesn’t view competition as a bad thing but as an opportunity to get better and build features to compete in the short and long term.
Finally, we asked about the impending E-Levy which will affect digital transactions and if it would affect Uber’s operations. She stated that she doesn’t foresee the new tax having any negative impact on Uber’s operations in Ghana.
She didn’t disclose any new features that Uber will be rolling out in 2022 but she stated that Uber will continue to try and improve its operations and listen to driver and rider feedback on the best ways to improve their service as the world goes into “Post” Covid mode.
