Since its inception in Kenya, online taxi driving has gained momentum with thousands of drivers opting to use ride-hailing platforms like Ubers, Bolt, Faras among others. However, getting into the taxi business is not an easy endeavour. Drivers have to buy vehicles, insure and maintain them or work with vehicle owners who oftentimes charge a lot of fee for them to use their cars.
That could change as online drivers have come together to form a cooperative society to help each other finance vehicle purchases, repairs and access financial services tailored to their needs.
Charles Gikandi, the chairman of Digital Captains Transport Cooperative talks to JEDCA Media about their organization and how drivers stand to benefit from the driver-centric cooperative.
Gikandi says that for the longest time online drivers have been facing financial challenges and this necessitated the formation of the cooperative. He believes that having a drivers’ cooperative will help drivers to own vehicles and get affordable repairs and other crucial services.
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The service extends beyond independent online drivers to vehicle owners who cannot drive vehicles themselves thus the cooperative helps in managing them on their behalf.
“The motive for starting a transport cooperative is to support drivers financially and make them free from ‘colonialism’. We are giving them financial freedom and also managing their vehicles and the partners’ vehicles. Partners who don’t have reliable drivers can let us handle the business for them. We also provide vehicle servicing for our drivers. We have spare parts, a carwash business and also import spare parts for our drivers and members,” Gikandi told JEDCA Media.
Gikandi says most financial institutions shy away from giving loans or asset financing to online drivers. Additionally, drivers who are using other people’s vehicles run a risk of cars being taken away by the owners anytime leaving drivers out of business.
“Some of the SACCOs we were relying on did not have asset financing. So we had hardships to get money to fund our members to purchase vehicles and most of our members have been using partner vehicles and they have been paying a lot of money to do the business,” he says.
“We came up with the idea so that we can make all the drivers have their own cars so that they can be in business fully because the partners can take away his car for sometime especially during peak season so you end up being out of business.”
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Purity Makandi, the cooperative’s treasury narrates the ordeal where some drivers have to sleep in their vehicles for lack of money to pay rent, especially those who drive other people’s vehicles. She says having a cooperative that understands the drivers’ needs is crucial for their welfare.
“Some of the drivers sleep in their cars because they cannot afford to pay their own rent. By coming together we will help our members to own their own cars and in future own homes and educate their children. That is why we came to form our own cooperative so that we can help our drivers to get their own cars,” Makandi says.
How the cooperative work
According to Gikandi, they had plans to register as a SACCO but given the scope of the services that drivers require, the SACCO model couldn’t accommodate. They decided to form a cooperative which allows them to do other transport related business including repairs, spare parts, financing and managing the partners vehicles.
“We are allowed by the government to do several business related to the transport sector. So far we have a registration certificate from the ministry of Cooperatives. Currently we have more than 100 members registered and our certificate was awarded to us on 15th May 2025,” he says.
