Wheels of Change: How Samrawit Fikru Put Ethiopia’s Transport on the Digital Map
Think, what happens when a young woman, with a software engineering degree and late-night taxi frustration, decides to fix a national problem? In the heart of Addis Ababa, where the city streets were filled with honking white and blue cabs and public transport mess, Samrawit Fikru quietly started a digital revolution. She was not trying to copy Silicon Valley but creating something completely different and Ethiopian. She had no global investors, no campaigns, and in a country where internet access was not stable, she launched RIDE – Ethiopia’s first homegrown taxi-hailing app. It became a movement that empowered the drivers and allowed women in tech to find opportunities. Let’s get to know more about her.
From First Click to First Code
Samrawit Fikru was born in Aseela, a small town in Ethiopia’s Oromia. Life in this town was simple and grounded. Her parents, who were not from a tech background, believed in education fully. Her father was a civil servant, and her mother was a homemaker. Growing up in this country was not easy for someone like her, as it lacked technological infrastructure. But her curiosity was not to be bound. That curiosity led her to the HiLCoE School of Computer Science and Technology in Addis Ababa, one of the country’s top institutions for tech education. She studied software engineering not just for the promise of a job, but for the power it offered to create solutions, especially in a country where daily inconveniences came from a lack of infrastructure. Little did she know, one of those inconveniences would shape her future.
From Small Town-Beginnings to Big-City Vision
Samrawrit was from a mid-sized town. Her upbringing, far removed from the fast tech hubs, didn’t stop her from dreaming big. Encouraged by parents and intrigued by the growing world of technology, she enrolled at HiLCoE School of Computer Science and Technology in Addis Ababa. While many of her fellow students wanted software engineering careers, Samrawit saw something more, she saw a future where technology solved some real-world issues on the streets of Ethiopia. She completed her degree in Software Engineering, not only based on technical skills, but also with a burning urge to apply them to everyday Ethiopian life. Her early career included private software development and consulting, but she was restless, waiting for a groundbreaking idea that felt truly personal to her.
A Frustrating Taxi Ride
The idea of RIDE wasn’t born in a boardroom or idea brainstorming sessions, it was born out of frustration. She recounts how, after giving multiple interviews, she struggled to find a safe and reliable taxi ride home in the evening. Samrawit realised that there was no formal, proper system to manage taxi services, no pricing standards, no digital access, and no accountability. It was in that moment that the blueprint and the idea for RIDE were born; it started to take shape. In 2014, she founded Hybrid Designs PLC, the parent tech company behind the taxi company RIDE. Samrawit’s goal was not just to digitize taxis, but it was also to transform the whole concept of urban transport in Ethiopia.
RIDE: Ethiopia’s First Digital Taxi Platform
At the start, it was launched as a corporate transport solution for businesses in Addis Ababa, RIDE allowed companies to manage and monitor employee transportation. It was a smart move. By focusing on companies first, Samrawit could test her tech in different controlled environments while creating trust in a less technical market. As word spread about this new company and demand from individuals grew, RIDE expanded into a full-fledged taxi-hailing service for the public. It had an app that allowed customers to request rides through their mobile phones, even via SMS, which was a very important adaptation in a market with limited internet availability. Divers were trained and prices were standardised. It was quite a revolution, and within a few years, RIDE had over 15,000 drivers, both private and commercial.
Breaking Barriers in a Male-Dominated Industry
Samrawit was different from others, not mainly because of her technical innovation but because of her resilience in the face of society’s expectations. As one of the few female tech founders in Ethiopia, she entered boardrooms where she was often the only female present. She’s spoken publicly about how investors would like her to let them speak to “the actual CEO,” assuming a man would lead a company rather than a woman. But Samrawit did not let this affect her in any way, she created an ecosystem that empowered other women, not only in tech but in transport as well. RIDE actively recruits and supports female drivers and has become a symbol of modern Ethiopia’s workforce.
Infrastructure Challenges and Innovation
Launching a ride-hailing app in a tech-developing country had its own set of challenges, like poor road structures, inconsistent GPS, and limited smartphone availability were just to name a few. But instead of mimicking Western models like Bolt or Uber, Samrawit decided to adapt. She created offline booking systems, added local payment options like mobile money, and worked closely with city officials to create policy frameworks. RIDE’s innovation was not just in software, it was a system designed and tailored to the realities of Ethiopia.
A Glimpse of Samrawit’s Leadership
While Samrawit Fikru’s technical expertise is praised a lot, what truly makes her different is how she leads, with empathy, community, and clarity in her mind. She is not the kind of CEO who locks herself away in meetings and hides behind analytics. She spends time listening to drivers and talking to her customers. Samrawit also keeps her fingers on the pulse of Ethiopian streets. Her company, Hybrid Designs, shows her philosophy. The office doesn’t have a proper structure like a tech company, it’s more like a collaboration with open conversations, hands-on learning, and mentorship programs. She believes that innovation does not come from following the hierarchy but from teamwork and trust.
This attitude is how RIDE functions. Unlike multiple other taxi-hailing companies that have been criticized for their underpaying or undervaluing drivers, RIDE created fair earning structures, ensured driver safety, and even offered digital literacy training to older drivers unfamiliar with smartphones. She also made sure that the platform supported women drivers, which is a rare sight to see in Ethiopia’s transport scene. Whether it was designing safety features for riders or inclusive hiring, Samrawit made sure every decision was an opportunity to make the tech world a little more human and equal.
Global Voice
As RIDE gained momentum, Samrawit Fikru’s life and work attracted global attention. People like tech leaders, journalists, and business investors noticed how she managed to create something out of nowhere when many big companies fail to do so. She managed to launch and scale a full digital transport company in a developing country with limited internet. In the year 2018, she was featured in Quartz Africa Investors List, which is a prestigious roundup list of African people who cause changes and who have transformed their industries. Her success got attention, and her story got attention too, using her idea, local sources, and understanding how she scaled RIDE. Samrawit’s story was shared on TEDx stages and global panels discussing women in tech and innovation. Even after these achievements, she remained deeply rooted in Ethiopia. She often said that her greatest achievement is the fact that a little Assie girl or from any other small town might believe that she could build something too.
A Ride Worth Following
Samwarit Fikru created transformation with RIDE in Ethiopia. Who would have thought that a girl from a small, modest town could dream and make it happen? In a country where public transport was a mess and the internet was still in its early stages, she made taxi hailing easy and for everyone. Her story is a big reminder that no matter where you are from, if you have a dream and passion to fulfill it, then nothing can stop you.
