Nairobi — Egyptian ride-hailing service, Swvl says it will suspend the daily intra city rides in Kenya beginning June 3 citing the global economic downturn.
The firm which has operated since July 2019 also suspended the Swvl Travel from May 30 and will only operate the Swvl Business which caters to corporations, organisations and private entities.
"In light of the global economic downturn , we are pausing our Swvl Daily intra - city rides in Nairobi next Friday the 3rd of June , 2022. And Swvl Travel on Sunday the 30th of May , 2022," the firm said in a statement.
The firm has also announced plans to reduce its workforce by 32 percent in a number of countries as part of its plan to become profitable by 2023.
"Today, with the current global economic downturn, as much as we did everything we could to put people first, we now know that we are not able to keep everyone unimpacted. We know we have to make tough decisions in order to prioritize profitability overgrowth to ensure that Swvl thrives once we are on the other side of this," the firms' CEO Mostafa Kandil said in a letter sent to employees and partners.
Swvl Kenya had commenced the rolling out of a new innovation that will allow commuters to use the platform for long-distance travel in Kenya, as part of their travel service.
The new service offered commuters the chance to book and pay for their upcountry trips going forward to over 12 destinations including Naivasha, Nakuru, Molo, Eldoret, Narok, Bomet, Kericho, Kisii, Kisumu, Nyeri, Nanyuki & Machakos through the Swvl app.
