Kenya’s ride-hailing service, Little Cab is set to increase its reach in Africa by setting up in Ghana and Tanzania. This was announced by the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Kamal Budhabhatti. Kamal mentioned that the company would start operations in Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam from next week and plans to launch in Accra by May.

This expansion is in line with the company’s plan to spread its wings across all African countries. The ride-hailing service has been able to expand its services to Uganda and Zambia within the space of two years and hopes to get across to more African countries.

Unlike other rival car-hailing services, Little Cab encourages its drivers to offer services other than driving as a source of additional income.

“Our drivers are agents, they can sell insurance to you, they can sell [mobile]airtime, they can pay light and/or water bills, they can do all those little things around that increases that income,” Kamal said.

Little Cab is using this expansion as an opportunity to seek for more investments for the ride-hailing service. The company plans to raise about $50 million from its investors to develop technology and to continue expansion across African countries.

“We are meeting a couple of investors, both on the continent and in Silicon Valley. The interest is there,” Kamal said.

Little Cab started operations in Kenya in 2016 with backing from Safaricom, Kenya’s biggest telecoms operator. Its entry into the local online taxi-hailing space sparked off a price war that marked it against Uber and Taxify, both of which have a strong following in the East African country. 

The e-cab hailing company also has female drivers signed up to the exclusive ‘Lady Bug’ service, a cab service for women, driven by women.