Spark, the Nigerian “company builder” founded by Jason Njoku, Bastian Gotter and Mary Remmy-Njoku (all of iROKOtv) has reason to be happy as one of its initial investments: bus ticketing website bus.com.ng has become Nigeria’s largest bus travel site taking people to over 200 destinations around the country.
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Collaborating with more than 65 bus operators, and offering departure points in seven states in Nigeria, bus.ng.com is now also in partnership with mobile payments solution PAGA, ensuring that its offering is convenient and secure for commuters.
Bus.com.ng is essentially a booking site where commuters can pre-book, and compare, bus tickets online or through their phone, not only servicing their travel needs but also improving the bus network in the country by making it more efficient.
Talking to TechMoran, bus.com.ng’s CEO Amy Muoneke says that the startup’s biggest challenge is to change people’s mindset about the transport sector. “…trying to convert people to online booking is a challenge but one that is not insurmountable and I must say there is a positive change every day,” says Muoneke.
There is still room for growth though as less than 30% of Nigeria’s 170-million strong population has access to the internet.
Spark, who provided bus.com.ng with seed funding aims to “facilitate the transformation of good ideas into awesome, profitable and sustainable African internet businesses” and has invested in other notable Nigerian startups to help the country’s tech scene like hotels.com.ng and tolet.com.ng.
As bus.com.ng is still only active in Nigeria, Spark must be happy with the traction the company has received to date, with potential expansion on the horizon.
