Now Is the Time To “Yango”
By: Bright Ahedor
Tags: Accra, Transportation, Uber, Yango, Ridesharing

Yango Ride Branded

About a few days ago I started seeing some ads in my feed on Facebook. The ad was asking me to download some app to hail ride as low as GHS 2.00. At first, I did not download it, I felt I had uber on my phone already so no need for another app. Considering the fact that they all serve the same purpose. I woke up the next day to see a car parked in front of my door and was branded “Yango”, the same ad I saw on Facebook. This made me more curious. The car parked in front of my room was a friend who I know uses his car for uber. So I decided to ask him what this “Yango” thing is all about. The long and short of it was that there is a new ride-hailing company in town and everyone is jumping to it.

So later that day at work I downloaded the app to see how it looked like. I kept it on my phone for some reason I don’t even know. Later that evening, I was at a friends place and it got very late, it was around 9 pm.

The Yango Moment

Becoming adventurous, I decided to hail a ride using “Yango”. The price estimated was GHS 4.00. Half the price on uber; a young guy like me who is so much concern about saving money, I decided to Yango. For once I taught it was a joke. What came to mind was, what if you pick and at your destination, the price doubled or even tripled ?. I had some extra cash so I forged on. Now to put things in perspective, if I was supposed to go my normal route of “Trotro” (the usual bus we pick here in Ghana) I had to pick two cars. The first would take GHS 2.5 and the second would take GHS 1.70, totalling GHS 4.20. At this moment I was in a shock, picking Yango means I will save GHS 0.20 plus comfort plus straight to my door ?. As smart as I was I choose to Yango.

The Business Side Of Things

Whilst in the car, I started engaging the driver asking questions like how was your experience so far, how did you get started, are you making money? etc. To my surprise, the guy said after the GHS 4.00 cash that he was going to take from me, he gets to get a bonus from the company every week. This sounds like magic to me. Now here is the question, Uber a billion dollar company is charging far more than that and not doing this kind of promotion so how come Yango is doing this?. For me, I see the business in everything. Whether the unit economics works for Yango or not, the car is my own and I can stop doing it when things get worst, I taught to myself.

The next morning after church service, I decided to try the “Yango” thing again because the last time I had a better offer. I ordered again from Global Evangelical Church, Adonai Chapel to Dzen Ayor where I stay. The estimated fare was GHS 7.00. Something I usually pay GHS 15 for uber ?. The ride came and as usual, I got into a conversation with the driver. The driver showed me his dashboard and how you get to know how much you make so far on that trip at any particular point on the trip. He also said, “Just yesterday I on my uber app and for like 20 minutes, no request came but on my Yango and I instantly got a request”.

Next Move

Instantly I knew there is an opportunity. If you have a car fuel efficient, now is the time to Yango, head to Yango Android and Yango iOS. Try it out, register, as a driver try it out, make some few cedis before things get worst. For those who will miss this opportunity, don’t be worried. There is one thing I learnt from my mentor Warren Buffett (one of the billionaires I admire a lot), you just have to do a few successful investments you don't have to be in all. About some years back I picked some nuggets from one of the books I read, Think Like a Billionaire, Become a billionaire by Scot Anderson.