Grace Ashiru
The Swiss Confederation’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) Startup Fund has given eWAKA strategic support. This is because eWAKA is one of Africa’s most promising sustainable mobility businesses.
The SECO Startup Fund has given eWAKA a loan of 500,000 CHF to support its plans for 2023 to speed up a growth strategy that focuses on offering innovative and environmentally friendly transportation technologies in Africa. This will be done by making and promoting eWAKA’s unique electric bike, the Shujaa, in Africa.
Since transportation is the second biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, the urban logistics sector in Africa and around the world needs to adopt new technology and business models as soon as possible to fight climate change, which affects African countries more than other places.
Major economic value chains are feeling the effects, especially Africa’s largest, which is agriculture. By adding more cost-effective and environmentally friendly vehicles to transportation fleets, the logistics sector can play a key role in helping Africa deal with climate change and offer significant economic benefits to several key industry value chains.
The expansion plan is based on several pilot projects, such as the opening of the Shujaa market. By 2023, eWAKA will be able to reach other parts of Kenya and East Africa. One of eWAKA’s growth goals is finding new ways for independent delivery drivers to get money.
The logistics industry can significantly assist Africa in addressing climate concerns while offering significant economic advantages to several essential industry sector value chains. This can be accomplished by increasing the percentage of fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles used in transportation fleets.
Celeste Vogel, Co-founder, CEO, and General Counsel of eWAKA, said about the company’s 2023 growth strategy, “eWAKA’s unique value proposition is the completeness of the ecosystem we offer in the last-mile transportation space.”
Understanding local constraints and variables is critical to successfully deploying micro-mobility models and solutions, so eWAKA did several pilot projects with target customer segments to improve our product line. For 2023, eWAKA will look for strategic partnerships to grow our customer base by adding more financing options and aggressively promoting the Shujaa rollout in Kenya, targeting both the B2B sector and independent drivers.
The manager of the SECO Startup Fund, Susanne Grossmann, said of eWAKA’s financing facility, “After a rigorous selection process, we are happy to offer eWAKA a loan to put their business model into action in Kenya.”
We appreciate the contribution to local production in the e-vehicle space. We hope that eWAKA will be a model for efficient, climate-friendly traffic systems in African cities that meet the continent’s mobility needs.
eWAKA’s year 2022 was a turning point. The Startup is poised to expand in 2023 because it has a full line of products for different types of customers and offers flexible rental, subscription, and purchase plans to help with commutes, personal health, and net-zero goals by using key customer segment insights and increasing local production capabilities.
eWAKA Shujaa is made for delivery in particular. The bike has a front rack that can hold up to 15 kg and a back rack that can hold up to 50 kg so that it can carry a total of 65 kg.
It comes with one battery out of the box, but a second battery can be added to give it a range of up to 120 kilometres. The Shujaa is easy to use, cheaper to get to (you don’t need a driver’s license) and more affordable to keep up, but it offers the same level of service.
eWAKA Kickscooters are made of high-quality materials and are made to be shared. Smart mobility software, product training, and after-sales services are available to improve a vehicle’s efficiency, insights, and uptime.
The eWAKA fleet management platform collects live data, which lets fleet owners improve remote management, vehicle tracking, maintenance history, and other safety controls.
eWAKA motorcycles are made for deliveries in cities, towns, and on the last mile. The vehicle, its environment for swapping batteries, and the conversion kits for converting motorcycles with internal combustion engines have all been put through many tests.
The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs set up a loan company called the SECO Startup Fund (SSF) (SECO). SSF gives loans to Swiss entrepreneurs and businesses in emerging markets to help them start new businesses (economies under development or transition).
