Yango starts operations in Ghana

By Raju J. R. PARWANI, Accra
International ride-hailing firm, Yango has started operations in Ghana, becoming the third ride-hailing service provider on the market.

Ghana becomes the second African country to have the Yango ride-hailing service after Ivory Coast, where it launched in October 2018.

Yango is a subsidiary of the Russian tech giant Yandex Group, which has operations in 15 countries across Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

Yango also operates under the trademark Yandex.Taxi.
“People in Accra are used to ride-hailing apps, but we’re not just another app. Yandex, our parent company, is a worldwide-known expert in Machine Learning, search and mapping technologies; this gives us a big advantage,” General Manager of Yango West Africa, Kadotien Soro said at the launch of the app in Accra.

He explained that Yango also uses a stack machine learning-based technology to optimise other processes such as service operations.
“All this helps us to reduce the net cost of the ride better than others do.

This allows us to ensure very affordable prices for rides while lowering commission payable by the drivers,” Soro added.

Currently, there are only two ride-hailing service providers in Ghana - Uber from the USA and Bolt (formerly Taxify) from Estonia.

Unlike competitors, the Yango app uses Yandex’s own mapping, routing, and navigation, as well as smart order distribution technologies. These help to significantly reduce the overall cost of trips and the time that a driver spends in vain when looking for a customer, heading to a next customer, or driving a customer to their destination.

This allows Yango to ensure very affordable prices for rides while lowering commission payable by the drivers.
Yango does not have its own drivers in Ghana. It works with local private drivers via its partnering companies. Drivers will not be charged any commission at the start.

Besides launching the app in Accra, Yango also plans to open a centre for drivers where they can learn how to work with the app, undergo different kinds of training, and also deal with any issues they might have.

The Yango app can be downloaded ahead of the launch for free from Google Play or App Store.

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