Dear Uber Drivers, if you don’t like the rates charged, log out and sign up elsewhere.

There was never a more important time in history than right now to grow eyes in the back of your head if you are in any kind of business and are keen to grow. But, let me digress a bit to explain why I am keen on this uber business and why I believe Kenyans in a herd are foolish and stupid to say the least.

I had an emergency in Nairobi and I didn’t have money to fuel my car to Nairobi so I jumped into a Mombasa bound bus at 3PM hoping to reach Nairobi by midnight and catch an Uber to my place. I had been away for a Month and I didn’t want the hassles of the Nairobi crazy traffic hence, using public means made me feel at ease.

The ride was smooth and once in Nairobi, I was hit by the changes that had taken place in merely one month and getting an uber was an issue because they had a constant surge and when I called a friend of mine to ask what was happening, I was alerted that during the day, they had been on strike and instantly I regretted why I left my car. Public transport in Nairobi is not for the faint hearted.

Once home, I went online to catch up on what I had missed especially on the Kenya uber drama.

I was disappointed to say the least with what I found out.

Indeed, when we are grouped together, we seem to lose our sense of reason and logic and become idiots on steroids. Look at how bodaboda riders reason together? Now find a single one and talk to him, very intelligent, but group them? What goes wrong? Same for uber drivers, individually, they are sharp guys, they will challenge you on international issues but grouped together, you will wish for the village idiot. Unfortunately, this reminds me of our leaders in parliament. Individually, they are brilliant lawyers, doctors, engineers, lawyers, entrepreneurs et al, but once grouped together, they become the most corrupt, repugnant to any society and thieves.

My reasoning is as follows.

This uber issue is purely about a traditional business resisting the inevitable advancement of technology. It’s about myopic views on how to handle competition and a clueless government that is facing a critical election hence bowing to the demands of greedy business partners who have no sense of what quality delivery in business means and what the consumer needs and ultimately what business of scale means.

Effective competitive intelligence in today’s barrage of content marketing and avalanche of social media is nearly impossible without help. Either you hire a dedicated team to sweep the internet on a daily basis, or you elicit a powerful weapon to automate your competitive analysis and alert you to any relevant changes. Uber has faced competition across the world and the best example is how the Chinese handled them. They never fought them. They simply created their own version of uber, made it better and cheap, ensured quality delivery in the logistics business and uber was forced to shut down. That’s how you handle competition. Now how we Kenyans are handling it. Yes, I know people have taken loans, quit their jobs and signed up on uber but this was done voluntarily. No one held a gun to their face.

Yes, Uber reduced the rates because they thought of the consumer. They figured out that the best way to win in any market competition is to focus on the customer, to appeal to the needs, desires, tastes and most important, appeal to the budget dimensions of the consumer. I believe having operated in many markets, they had the research backed with data that ultimately the consumer is King and good quality of the rides is paramount to keep competition at bay.

Nancy Pearcy onc