Sri Lanka : The business model has changed pretty much. In the beginning, Uber was all about premium services. For an example, a luxury car, let’s say, a Mercedes, driving you for a day out, etc. However, we evolved very quickly once we grasped the much larger need to revolutionise the urban mobility. That’s what we are after right now.
We have seen a lot of innovations, which have been picked up and adopted across the board. We are in over 600 cities globally, in 65 countries and in Sri Lanka; it has especially been very good for us.
We think about our business and urban mobility as a whole. There are different stakeholders being part of it. The whole transparency we brought to the market wasn’t there before. We are also very excited about the convenience we bring to the market.
What’s Uber’s vision for the Sri Lankan market moving forward?
Freese: The large vision we have globally as well as for Sri Lanka specifically, is taking up on the private car ownership because the car has become the second most valuable asset you buy in your life. However, 96 percent of the time what it’s doing is standing underutilised or unutilized while occupying limited space in our cities. Moreover, car ownership is also relatively expensive in Sri Lanka, due to tariffs and taxes imposed.
I think that’s the larger vision. We have leapfrogged to no car ownership because it’s all about shared mobility in the future.
How has Uber fared in the Sri Lankan market over the last three years, since its inception?
Freese: We are now three years in Sri Lanka and we will celebrate our third anniversary in October. The growth has been phenomenal.
We have 60,000 riders using Uber on a monthly basis. So, it’s a pretty good beginning but we are just getting started here. If you really want to take on the private car ownership, it has to grow even further. The last three years have been very exciting; they have given us confidence. More to come, especially proud of the chapter we started with UberZip.
Last December, we started a new product, where we use very small cars – Nano, Alto, which provide even cheaper options to get from A to B. That’s actually triggering a lot of use cases. Before, maybe I wouldn’t go to the gym or take my kids to school with Uber. However, now with UberZip, it has become totally possible. We have seen really good growth since then and came to these 60,000 riders per month.
What is the key for success for Uber in Sri Lanka so far and how are you planning to get more involvement of the stakeholders to enhance the future growth prospects?
Freese: The key to success of Uber is being extremely local. Our driver base is very local and we have also invested in building a local team here. We are celebrating the local festivals with them and we have a programme where we try to build a community with our driver base. The initiative will allow the drivers to network and provide their feedback to us. It will be an opportunity for us to engage with them and understand what their pinpoints are.
I haven’t come across any idea or business where you press a button and make money. In many cases, it’s making a large impact for them, as the incremental money they are earning is empowering many of them to do much more than they were doing before. The incremental income is creating economic opportunities for them that are actually revolutionising even more than you feel on the riders’ side.
