Safe Transit, Female Drivers & A Nairobian App’s Timely Landmark

The moment Khawlah Habib thought to hatch an enterprise in Kenya, she looked to a pain point that is most likely the offspring of sheer and repeated experience.

Ms. Habib probably fancied to explore the transport-tech vertical of the East African nation but certainly wanted to cut the kind of cloth that cloaks women commuters from most of their every day worries. 

Limited access to safe transport is estimatedly the biggest chunk of rock sealing off women's participation in the labor markets of developing countries. According to the International Labor Organization, this challenge drains female participation by 16.5 percent.

Now, when it comes to countries with existing, significant gender gaps—many of which are in Africa—something as simple as not feeling comfy in a male-dominated minibus has complex and more fractured economic results. 

“I wanted a taxi service that would make women feel comfortable throughout their journey. Women are more maternal and women feel more comfortable being driven by fellow women. I did a lot of research and talked to a number of women who narrated their unpleasant experiences, which made me see the need of coming up with a female-only taxi," is Khawlah’s backstory for the origin of Kenya’s An-Nisa. 

In the taxi and transportation industry, women represent only about 2 percent of drivers but 60 percent of riders. This Kenyan company was born to look into and paper the cracks, where necessary.