Kiddies Commute is using Tech to provide safe trips for Children. #40Days40FinTechs Zambia and Malawi edition, Day 13

Managing children’s trips is always a hustle; be it going to school, church, shopping or a party. It is time consuming as parents and guardians struggle to get the right drivers and cars to transport the young ones. In the absence of this, parents and guardians must transport the children themselves.

Having witnessed firsthand how bothersome kids transport was in her early days, Tetiwe Nzimah set out to change this and give children a better experience.

“I was raised by my parents in the Copperbelt. My mum ran a daycare and primary school. Having helped her with the operations, we could see how the taxi drivers then could literally drive the pupils carelessly so that they could go back to their park/stages and make more money. At the time, there were no ride-hailing services. Fast forward, I moved to Lusaka and it was even worse. Issues like traffic, careless driving, kidnapping, overloading of the children and accidents were on a rampant. It is this that inspired me to start Kiddies Commute,” Tetiwe Nzimah explained.

Kiddies Commute is state-of-the-art digital platform designed to give parents and guardians complete control and peace of mind over their children’s transportation. The platform has real-time tracking, an easy to use booking system, safe drivers and secure digital payments.

“We enable parents have a peace of mind as we provide a safe and reliable commute for their children; be it to school or any other destination. All the drivers on our platform are heavily vetted and fully trained to transport the children. On the parents’ side, they just have to create an account on our APP and start booking the rides. When booking, the parents include the number of children set to travel and their destination. The system automatically calculates the fare after which the parents pay digitally – mobile money or bank transaction. Once the payment is received, a driver and car are assigned to go and pick the children. The parent is able to track the ride from the pick-up point until drop off,” Nzimah noted.

She noted that some of the challenges Fintech start-ups like hers are facing in Zambia include limited mentorship and networking, access to funding, and rigidness from potential users.

Nzimah appreciated the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative for giving start-ups an opportunity to showcase their innovations and reach wider markets.

“This initiative is giving us a platform as thriving start-ups in the FinTech space to have a wider market reach. It is also helping build a healthier ecosystem where we can all come together; connect, complement and collaborate with one another,” she noted.

Kiddies Commute featured on Day 13 of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative; Zambia and Malawi edition. The roll-out of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative in Zambia and Malawi followed its success in East Africa. Over the past 5 years, the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has featured over 200 FinTech stories from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda. This initiative has also engaged hundreds of end-users and shared their stories with millions worldwide.

The primary objective of this initiative is to support and showcase innovative FinTech giants and start-ups from across Africa, with a focus on promoting financial inclusion and economic growth, in addition to giving start-ups access to the resources they need to develop new and innovative financial solutions that can benefit underserved populations. Such resources include but are not limited to Level One Project guidelines, Mojaloop Open Source Software and Inclusive Finance systems, etc.