Johannesburg - The decision by the food delivery company Uber Eats to halt delivery services in some townships, citing safety concerns for its businesses and drivers, has left a gap in the market for local companies to exploit.
One such company making the most of the opportunity is KasiD, with the founder and CEO Freddy Mahhumane at the helm. He believes he understands the township market better, which puts him in a position to thrive.
“I saw it as an opportunity for me. I think they don't have the right background in terms of the township culture. For us as a business that’s one of our competitive advantages because we are from the township so understand the culture in the township,” he said.
It is with great disappointment that starting 5 September 2022, Uber Eats deliveries in some areas of Soweto will not be available due to the safety risks that continue to threaten the businesses of delivery people. [1/4]
— Uber South Africa (@Uber_RSA) September 1, 2022
Mahhumane also believes that the commission charged by some of the more established food delivery companies was a barrier to entry for some of the informal food vendors from townships.
“For example, restaurants, so they would charge 30 to 36% more and you in the township, right? And they did not understand that the people in the township actually don’t want this formal food or shall I say, restaurant food.
“KasiD is doing both, we are doing both the formal and informal restaurants,” said Mahhumane.
With unemployment sitting at a whopping 34% Mahhumane is also passionate about creating employment opportunities.
“We hire specifically South Africans. We hire the youth, they are our first priority. Where there is no skill we have our own in-house registered motorcycle instructor who can train youth who are interested in joining us,” he said.
The entrepreneurial bug bit Mahhumane at a young age, learning from his parents who found ways to supplement their income.
“My parents were very entrepreneurial but back then it wasn't called entrepreneurship. They had businesses where they’d sell vegetables and that’s where the love for entrepreneurship started even though I didn't know that it could be a career,” said Mahhumane.
After completing his matric Mahhumane dreamt of being a chartered accountant, but his marks were not good enough to earn him a place at his university of choice, the University of the Witwatersrand.
“When I finished school I wanted to be a chartered accountant but I couldn't get into Wits University because I didn't get good marks so I had to go to TUT but because I applied late the university told me that the only place available for me was in IT. I just accepted a place in IT because I didn’t want to sit at home.”
He would go on to study IT not knowing that the coding experience he garnered at the Tshwane University of Technology would one day lead him to create a food delivery app.
Muhhumane dreams of expanding his food delivery business to other parts of the country and beyond South Africa's borders, taking on the established food delivery apps head-on.
He said, “I’d like to think we’ve built the very same technology as Mr D and Uber Eats. We made sure that where we could not find better we met the same standards as them.
“We want to be the No 1 black-owned delivery business in South Africa and we don’t want to stop there. We've recently received a trading letter in Botswana because we also see our business expanding into Africa.”
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