Uber to expand Africa operations
JOHANNESBURG - Uber is expanding in Africa.
The ride-hailing company said Thursday that it plans to start operating in the capitals of Ghana, Uganda and Tanzania within a month.
Uber already operates in the cities of Nairobi and Mombasa in Kenya, Lagos and Abuja in Nigeria and five cities in South Africa -- Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth.
Alon Lits, Uber general manager in sub-Saharan Africa, says the company's South African operation will experiment with a cash payment option in addition to the electronic payment system in its app.
Lits says some customers are more comfortable using cash because of concerns about the security of online payments. He says Uber business in Kenya, where many people don't use payment cards, surged after the introduction of a cash payment option.