WHO IS THE FOUNDER OF SAFEBODA?

Safeboda is a ride hailing company that was founded by Ricky Thompson in 2014 alongside his partners Max and Alastair.

 Ricky Thompson dropped out of school under unclear circumstances and decided to join the boda boda business as a rider.  

Since he was very passionate about riding boda bodas Ricky Thompson decided to take it very seriously and learn more about riding boda bodas. 

He has been dedicated to changing his life for the better. Ricky was doing his boda boda business well until when he lost a friend in a Boda boda accident and from that time he vowed to dedicate the remaining years of his life into making the bodaboda business a safe place for the boda riders and their passengers. 

He decided to do something about the safety of boda boda riders on the roads and he first decided to buy a second helmet for his passengers and he would during that time request his passengers to wear the helmet before they could embark on the journey. 

As result of this he got a lot of reviews and also recommendations from people who had used his service before. 

With the unregulated boda boda business in Kampala city, Ricky decided to launch a start up called Safeboda and according to Ricky, his idea was to  first train the boda boda riders and also provide the riders with safety equipments like the helmet and also the reflector jackets that would be easily used to identify them by their customers.

 In 2014, Ricky met with his co-founders Maxime Dieudonne and Alastair Sussock and they held a meeting where they decided to start a company and they called it Safeboda. Their mission was to create safe and also add some professional standards in the transportation industry in Uganda. 

CO-FOUNDER OF SAFEBODA, ALAISTER SUSSOCK

They also planned to build a network of bada boda riders who are foresighted and have knowledge about customer care, and are also very entrepreneurial. 

Max one of the co-founders of the company also suggested that they develop an app and it was developed in 2014.

 Ricky and his co-founders have managed to develop a network of boda riders who have improved the safety of both the riders themselves on the roads and also their passengers.  Safeboda has made transportation easier predictable and also reliable.

What value does safeboda add to it’s riders?

The riders of Safeboda are vetted and trained properly before they can be allowed to join the company. 

The riders are equipped with skills that are relevant to riders like the simple mechanical skills that is necessary for fixing problems when they are encountered while on the road. 

They are also trained with road safety guidelines with the help of the Uganda Police and the global road safety partnerships. 

The riders are equipped with extra helmets that they provide the passengers with and also hairnets in order to ensure that hygiene issues are sorted. 

Everyday Safeboda makes around 15000 trips and on the app they are getting over 500 trips. 

The Safeboda riders are also enjoying a 30% improvement in their revenues considering the financial inclusion effort that was introduced by SafeBoda.

 In 2017, Ricky Thompson was recognised by Reach a hand Uganda for his innovation and he was handed a Young Achiever’s award. 

In 2018, Ricky Papa Thompson was also recognised by Forbes Magazine as one of the most promising young entrepreneurs under 30 in Africa. 

Safeboda is one of the fastest growing start ups in Uganda and Rocky Thompson is a very big inspiration to other Youths in Uganda.