Junior: Uncle Tunde, did you see that thread on Twitter about how Nigerians dealt with Uber in Nigeria?
Tunde: Yes I did. But the reality is that those frauds occur globally. In fact India and China are way ahead. Uber has never even mentioned Nigeria as a country it has had issues with. So it’s likely that the total loss is negligible.
Junior: But somebody said Uber has been successful everywhere except when they came to Nigeria! Are you saying this isn’t true?
Tunde: Well, I’m not sure what the person means by successful. Uber has been loss making since inception. It lost $8.5 billion in 2019 globally. The only time it made profit was in 2018, and that’s one-off because it sold some businesses.
Junior: Chai! See losses! So why does Uber keep expanding even though it keeps losing so much?
Tunde: That’s what some startups do to grow aggressively oh. The plan is to spend aggressively on acquiring so many customers quickly, so you become the market leader. This way, nobody can challenge you even if it means losing money in the short term. As you can see, the market leader method doesn’t always work as is the case with Uber.
Junior: Thanks Uncle Tunde. One last question: why did that NDDC man faint on TV?
Tunde: Alakoba! Junior please leave. Can’t someone faint in peace again? Mtshewwww
