Business Post Contributor
By Ashemriogwa Emmanuel
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Treepz Incorporated, formerly known as Plentywaka, Mr Onyeka Akumah, has said that the rebranding of the Toronto-headquartered shared mobility startup presented an opportunity to align with its Pan-African expansion plan.
He revealed that the company had been looking for a globally acceptable name for the last six months to use in creating the right kind of positive emotions around bus trips on the African continent.
According to him, the decision to change the name of the 2-year-old ride-hailing company was after a thorough deliberation from its stakeholders, partners, and staff members.
“This name change is a result of in-depth discussions with our stakeholders, partners, and staff. After we discovered that the term WAKA can mean different things across Africa, which may be completely different from travel or movement, we decided to change the name from Plentywaka to Treepz which is pronounced as Trips.
“The new name boldly states our mission to provide safe, convenient, and comfortable trips across Africa with plans for our expansion to 6 countries in 2 years on the continent,” Mr Akumah explained.
Adding that the new change better represents the vision of the company which is to establish the largest shared mobility platform across the continent, he said the name Treepz resonates with the experience on road, travelling across cities, within cities, and it gives a cool vibe.
In addition to its new company name, Treepz also released a new company logo which has the inscription of “Treepz” but retained its existing mission statement and “black & yellow” brand colours.
Also, the new brand identity reformation will retain the core service offerings but will be identified with new names which are; Daily Treepz, Travel Treepz, and Corporate Treepz.
According to Mr Akumah, already existing users won’t have to take any action as the new app will be automatically updated to the new Treepz experience in Africa.
