Connecting African Cities: Yango's Contribution to Urban Transport Infrastructure

At Yango , we're all about leveraging cutting-edge technology, and it's our Country Managers who make it happen at the local level. As we expand Yango services to more regions, it's important to share how we roll out our services, the challenges we face in different countries, and how we tackle them.

Meet our second guest – Kadotien Alassane Soro , Country Manager for Yango in C?te d'Ivoire, who spearheaded the African expansion in the country.

Kado is a business strategist with a track record of driving strategic successes in global companies. He’s led teams to triple revenue and win awards in West Africa. He was one of the key leaders who launched Yango's first African operation in C?te d'Ivoire and has since been instrumental in expanding across the region.

We asked Kado how Yango's African growth began in 2018 in C?te d'Ivoire:

“I was one of the first employees to join the team for African expansion. In 2018, I was pioneering the introduction of Yango's services in C?te d'Ivoire. Since then, I've been at the forefront of our African expansion, bringing Yango to Ghana, Senegal, Cameroon, Zambia, and Ethiopia. In November 2021, we launched ????Cameroon and in December 2021, Senegal. In 2022, we expanded to more cities in Cameroon, C?te d'Ivoire, Ghana, Zambia, and Angola and launched in Ethiopia this year (2024)”

Since 2018 the Yango team has soared in Africa, now being represented in more than 20 countries worldwide. We asked Kado what factors helped us grow so quickly in the region. He shared that success is often credited to many people, while failure is usually seen as an orphan.

In general, success can't be attributed to just one factor, but we discovered several key ones:

1?? The Yango Business Model.

Instead of working directly with drivers, we work through partners. This revenue-sharing model empowers partners to earn more than they would working directly with drivers. It enables them to become entrepreneurs and grow their business, thereby empowering the communities we serve.?

2?? Team Spirit and Values

At Yango, we place a high value on openness and attitudes. When hiring, we focus on soft skills, with attitude being paramount. I believe it's tough to change someone’s attitude, and a poor one can negatively affect team spirit and overall performance. We basically achieve our goals by fostering the right attitudes.

3?? Business Environment.

Africa's business environment is relatively friendly, having a resource-rich environment providing a level of security for investments.?

4?? Team Effort to Transform Markets.

Our team played a crucial role in educating the market and partners by launching initiatives such as Yango Education & Tech Day in Zambia to provide data analytics skills free of cost. We pushed hard to reach a critical mass, convincing everyone that this business was viable. Once we hit that tipping point, Yango became synonymous with ride-hailing in C?te d'Ivoire.

Today, "taking a Yango" means ordering a taxi in C?te d'Ivoire.?

The Yango team in C?te d'Ivoire is currently expanding its ecosystem in the app beyond ride-hailing to include new services. We spoke with Kado to understand what has driven Yango’s rapid growth in C?te d'Ivoire and what keeps us successful in the region while launching numerous new products.

Here’s what we learned:

1?? Foundation in the Main Product

The success of our main product at ride-hailing? is like a strong main branch of a tree, with new branches sprouting from the trunk. This main branch is our core team, which provides a solid base for launching additional products. And if we want to launch any additional product, the team is already there.

2?? Connection Between the Services

Our approach began with taxis, then expanded to delivery—leveraging the existing taxi team's knowledge and operational expertise. Our delivery team, experienced in B2B projects, then formed the basis for new teams. Then we launched the Deli team, baes on the delivery team. Based on the teams experience we now launch new services. Today, as we launch our buy-and-sell platform, we integrate these teams. This combination of specialists facilitates communication and experimentation, determining what resonates with our customers and what doesn’t.

Our next steps?

We're working on building a super app, launching more products within the Yango ecosystem, and extending our flagship ride-hailing service to new areas.

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