Gokada may seem to have begun the process of moving on from the unfortunate death of its former CEO and founder, Fahim Saleh, with the latest development out of the Lagos based transport/logistics tech start-up. They have now appointed a new CEO. Nikhil Goel. He was announced as the new CEO last week.
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Goel is Indian but has worked in Nigeria since 2018 and has risen through the ranks and organizations. The graduate of India’s Netaji Suhas Institute of Technology began his journey in Africa’s growing tech space after founding his own venture in India as well as working in high level positions in Indian start-ups such as Zomato and Classplus.
He became head of new verticals at East African high-flying start-up, SfaeBoda. Goel joined Gokada late in 2019 and rose very quickly through the ranks from the head of rides to COO to the president before being confirmed head this year.
Goel has been responsible for steadying the ship since Saleh’s gruesome murder last July, when he was confirmed, president. Gokada has broken new grounds under Goel already as it is and it is quite remarkable how the company has shown range since early last year when its main cash cow, transport, was crippled by official state government policy.
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The company has since delved into logistics full-time with grocery, food, and parcel as well as e-commerce delivery. Gokada is now nearing profitability even after the immense challenges it endured last year. They are taking food delivery seriously and it is not hard to see why, given the background of its new CEO who has worked a similar business, Zomato and fostering the same when he worked at SafeBoda.
Expansion may be on the cards moving for forward for Gokada as it looks to put a particularly painful past behind on its path to expansion and profitability. First, it would aim to make its business and services more national as it expands to more towns and cities even as it eyes its next funding round.
Featured Image Source: Nairametrics
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