By Funmilola Gboteku

Bolt, a mobility application, has announced €2.5 million pledge to empower more women to drive with it and other ride-hailing platforms.

Bolt, in a statement on Tuesday, said that the pledge formed part of the company’s newly launched campaign called “Women at the Wheel”.

The company said it sought to address under-representation of women in the mobility sector, and to help women access the additional earning opportunities provided by working as a driver on a ride-hailing platform.

Venus Lim, Bolt’s Director of Central Operations for Ridehailing, said: “Women are under-represented in many parts of society, but in the mobility sector the inequality is particularly stark.

“There are many reasons why many women are unlikely to consider becoming drivers and this campaign aims at raising awareness of some of the prejudices held against female drivers.”

Lim said it would make it easy for women to access flexible, independent work on Bolt and other ride-hailing platforms, something which is particularly important now when cost of living is going up for everyone.

He said that the campaign came at a time when almost nine out of ten women reported seeing their living costs rise in the past twelve months.

According to him, this was revealed by a survey of 2,000 women which Bolt conducted across four countries in Europe and Africa.

“According to the survey, the vast majority (93 per cent ) of women surveyed say that they have sought new opportunities to earn additional income over the same period.

“Only 7.2 per cent had considered working as a driver on a ride-hailing platform to earn extra money,” Lim said.

Yahaya Mohammed, Country Manager, Bolt Rides, said that in Nigeria, Bolt had continued to champion women empowerment in the ride-hailing industry.

Mohammed said the company had done this by offering opportunities to women to get a career head start in the tech industry through its Women in Tech internship programme.

He said that the internship programme, now in its third year, offered young women with keen interest in the tech and ride-hailing industry, a three months paid internship while being mentored by top women in Bolt leadership.

“As a business, we value all our drivers and recognise that they play an integral role in the continued growth of our brand, and we do not take their commitment and efforts for granted.

“Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls (UN SDG 5) is a key pillar of our work.

“We at Bolt believe that we have an opportunity to contribute to bridging the gender gap by allowing women to be self-employed in the digital e-hailing space,” Mohammed said.

He said that through the “Women at the Wheel” campaign, Bolt would continue offering more women in Nigeria, viable economic opportunities to empower themselves.

Mohammed added that it would also advance the growth of the industry in the market.

Mohammed said that the campaign was running across eleven countries, which included Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Romania, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Portugal, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Latvia and Estonia. (NAN)

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