By Ahmed Rahma
A ride-hailing company, Bolt, is expanding its offerings in Nigeria with the launch of a food delivery service.
The company announced this through a job advert on its official website.
“We are launching our new food delivery service and we are looking for a Restaurant Sales Manager who can help in establishing partnerships with local businesses,” the ad read.
Recently, a member of the World Bank Group, International Finance Corporation (IFC), invested €20 million in the company to help expand its access to mobility and delivery services in underserved urban areas in Africa and Eastern Europe—including in South Africa, Nigeria, and Ukraine.
“We are looking forward to partnering with IFC to further support entrepreneurship, empower women and increase access to affordable mobility services in Africa and Eastern Europe. Together with the investment from the European Investment Bank last year, we are proud to have sizable and strategically important institutions backing us and recognizing the strategic value Bolt is providing to emerging economies,” said Markus Villig, CEO and Founder of Bolt.
Since the pandemic, many businesses added food delivery to their model. In Nigeria, the food delivery market attracted a lot of attention during the lockdown with companies like Jumia introducing Jumia foods and Gokada switching to food delivery since the okada ban in Lagos, Nigeria
According to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Lagos residents spent ₦830 billion ($2 billion) eating out in 2019; representing 34% of total food expenditure which signifies that the food delivery service in Nigeria is a thriving market, large enough for Bolt to be competing with Jumia and Gokada.
Bolt currently offers food delivery services in 16 countries and 33 cities across the world
