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If you take a walk through the bustling city of Kampala, your ears will be treated to a symphony of sounds – almost certainly including the buzz of motorbikes that whiz through the city’s streets. The two-wheeled taxis known as boda bodas weave through the traffic day and night, carrying thousands of passengers across Kampala each day.

In fact, a million motorbikes hurtle down all of Uganda’s roads, rural as well as urban, burning petrol as they go. They are a significant source of the high levels of air pollution in Uganda’s cities, pollution that kills around 28,000 people in the country each year.

GOGO Electric wants to change this by harnessing the power of batteries for a new generation of boda bodas. With Uganda’s electric grid already powered by over 90% renewable energy, electric ‘e-bodas’ are a sustainable, clean and cost-effective option for the country’s informal transport system. GOGO’s ambitious plan has been to build motorbike-compatible batteries in their own factory in Kampala and build a network of battery swapping stations – some of them solar powered – as pit stops for busy e-boda operators all over the country.

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GOGO Electric was initially founded under the name BODAWERK by a group of intrepid engineers who built the company from the ground up – both figuratively and literally, as they started by constructing their offices themselves. Once the enterprise got rolling, it grew much faster than initially envisioned, so the founders reached out to the GET.invest Finance Readiness Support for advice.

When GET.invest first came on board through INENSUS − one of eight advisory firms delivering the GET.invest Finance Readiness Support − the GOGO team was in the advanced stages of developing their battery pack and management system. They were experimenting with many avenues for these batteries: not just motorbikes but wheelchairs, outboard motors and even tractors. Their exploration was broad, reflecting a strategic search for the optimal application of their technology. Recognising the value of precision in their growth strategy, they narrowed their focus to the most promising opportunities.

With African business expertise, the GET.invest Finance Readiness Support advisors became excellent sparring partners for the lively discussion of new ideas contributing to GOGO’s strategy development – counselling as they worked to simplify and strategise. The advisors conducted market research and a competitor analysis, developed financial modelling of working capital demand, and ran scenario analysis together with the GOGO management. Financing expansion plans was the central objective of it all.

After a lot of refinement, it became obvious that a strategic investor from the motorbike space would be best suited for GOGO to move forward. GOGO rents out batteries to its users, so asset finance was a challenge to be overcome through a strong strategic partnership. The company established a collaboration with Watu, an asset financing company working in financial inclusion and one of the major players in financing boda bodas across Africa. Setting expectations is the first step towards a strategic partnership, so the GET.invest Finance Readiness Support team was available to analyse the terms of this collaboration and provide advice on how to establish a solid relationship between the two companies.

The outcome

That solid relationship has led Watu to invest more than €7 million in GOGO Electric. GOGO continues to grow and now has over 320 employees, with a 30% female workforce. In February 2024, the company celebrated its thousandth e-boda in the Ugandan market. Operators using GOGO’s lithium-ion-powered motorbikes save 30% compared to running on petrol. With their network of convenient battery swap stations, these electric vehicles have become a quick, practical and cost-effective option for Uganda’s two-wheeled taxi drivers. By the end of 2024, GOGO envisions 20,000 operators will be consuming 3GWh of electricity monthly – and zero petrol.

GOGO has not lost any of its initial ambition: recognising that around five million old-fashioned boda bodas are spluttering across all of East Africa, GOGO is preparing to establish the region’s largest lithium-ion battery pack factory in 2024. This will allow their battery swap network to expand and bolster a surge in e-bodas. With a rapidly growing e-boda fleet, GOGO is poised to lead Uganda’s transport evolution.

Disclaimer: This story was last updated in April 2024.