Innovative Blockchain Technology Can Transform Boda Boda Sector in East Africa

Boda bodas, the popular motorcycle taxis that are essential to urban life in East African metropolises such as Nairobi, Kampala and Dar es Salaam, are about to undergo a technological revolution. Asset finance company Watu has partnered with Nodle to use blockchain technology for real-time tracking of their financed vehicles.

Gain a better overview of financed assets

Watu, which has already provided loans to more than a million Africans in seven different countries, sees this partnership as an opportunity to both increase the safety of vehicle owners in the event of theft and gain a better overview of the assets financed. This will be achieved through Nodle’s decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN), which uses a network of smartphones as nodes.

The implementation of the project will start in May 2024 in Uganda and will expand to Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the following months. The Nodle Network, thanks to the widespread presence of smartphones and their advanced geolocation capabilities, provides broad coverage and accurate tracking.

Stimulate the rollout of the network in Africa

Micha Benoliel, co-founder and CEO of Nodle, believes this partnership will significantly boost the network’s rollout in Africa, especially with smartphones expected to make up 88% of mobile connections by 2030. Florent Stroppa, Chief Product Officer at Nodle, emphasizes that the crowdsourced network will enable new services to be deployed quickly and cost-effectively, making it specifically suited for tracking hard-to-locate assets.

Gunars Bidins, head of GPS tracking at Watu, is convinced of the benefits of this technological advancement: “This collaboration allows us to track our asset fleet more efficiently and cost-effectively, increasing the safety and security of our assets in our growing operations in Africa.”

With the growing popularity of DePINs within the blockchain industry, this technology is also being used to acquire cloud computing resources and other innovative applications, indicating a promising future for the integration of digital and physical infrastructure.