According to Bloomberg The company is focusing on smaller cities. According to Adeniyi Adebayo, head of the company’s African division, most international players are focused on Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa and Kenya, where “a race for survival” is beginning due to high competition and capital inflows. Yango, on the other hand, wants to establish itself in West and Central Africa. The company cites unstable currencies, restrictions on the number of machines and high license costs among the challenges that are hampering growth.
A separate problem is fuel prices. According to Bloomberg, gasoline costs can account for up to a quarter of the cost of a trip. The situation is further complicated by the conflict in the Middle East, which affects the oil market. Against this background, Yango is accelerating its transition to electric cars: the company is going to deliver about a thousand electric cars to Abidjan, the largest city in Cote d’Ivoire.
The company says that African expansion is just beginning. Yango is also considering entering the markets in the south of the continent – Namibia, Botswana and Mozambique.
Meanwhile, controversy over data security continues to surround the service. In May, the Finnish broadcaster Yle reported that MLU B.V., which is part of Yandex, was fined 100 million zeuros in Finland for transferring personal data of Yango users to Russia. Bloomberg wrote about the investigation of the Dutch authorities because of concerns about the processing of data of European customers.
