Jaenique Swartz

(Part 2)

New Era (NE) recently sat down with Melkisedek ‘Melkies’ Ausiku (MA), owner and founder of Lefa Transportation Services (Lefa), in a two-part interview. Ausiku talked about current affairs and operational matters of Namibia’s first-ever ride-hailing company. In this final part of the interview, Ausiku dives deeper into his company’s overall ambitions for Lefa, employing more female drivers and the project with Google to map Namibia. 

NE: Is there any specialist equipment you would need, and who is financing this project with Google to map Namibia? 

MA: The most important components in
this project are the vehicle and a very sophisticated camera from Google, called a tracker. Google will be lending us the cameras and all related equipment for this project, which we will send back upon completion. There is a lot of technical input from a human perspective, but most of the work, once the camera is installed on the vehicle, is to
drive. 

For this, we have employed two people who will be handling the project; one is tasked to drive and one is a technician from a geology and surveying background to handle the equipment and upload the images captured onto the cloud. The equipment was financed by Google, and the car was thankfully rented out for us – and of course, Google compensates our staff as well for all the expenses incurred during this project. 

NE: How long will this project take?

MA: We have estimated 12 months, but we have started a testing phase for the first two weeks on 23 October to allocate how many kilometres we will map every day, which we will use to calculate how many days it will take us to finish the estimated kilometres. There are about 17 000km to 20 000km, which is the total of what we need to map. Our objective is to finish Windhoek in November before the rainy season since the camera cannot operate while it is raining.

NE: Is this your first time working with Google – and from a company operational expenses perspective, is this financially rewarding for Lefa to take on a project like this with Google? 

MA: Yes, this is our first time working with a tech giant, such as Google – and yes, there is financial gain from this. We are getting rewarded for our efforts. I think the most important takeaway from this project is the stamp of trust and endorsement from Google, namely the fact that Google can trust a Namibian company to carry out this task for them. This speaks volumes, and that is our biggest reward because this means other corporates will notice this stamp of approval and allow Lefa to transport their consultants when they come to Namibia or carry out another project for them. 

NE: From a mapping perspective, how are you going to go about it? Will you do tar roads, gravel roads and uninhabited areas? 

MA: The way the camera imagery works is that it needs to be in an environment where there should not be any obstacles. It is difficult to map gravel roads, but it is possible. We have identified all the tarred public roads for mapping and there is an opportunity for private properties to request for their roads to be mapped. 

NE: The team members chosen to map this project, will they be on duty for the entire project or will this open an opportunity for employing people outside of Lefa? 

MA: The current team was recently employed for this project – and in the future, we foresee that once we start mapping outside of Windhoek, there will be a need to employ more people. There will be a need for teams to rotate. We have also employed someone to do administrative duties for this project. So, there will be an entire group of people who will be joining this project, who will all be newly appointed besides me, as the project manager. 

NE: Could you shed some light on any other projects Lefa is working on?

MA: There are a lot of great projects in the pipeline. One of our core objectives is to create more opportunities for women in the transport industry. We want to actively create opportunities for women to participate in this industry, and to remove the stigma from the notion that only men can be professional drivers. We will be employing 15 female drivers to work for Lefa and train them as professional tour guides for Windhoek.

NE: Lefa currently only has one female driver, who knocks off early during the weekend. Will this be a notion every woman driver has to follow? 

MA: From our side, no. It is not something that we hope for, as we wish to educate the masses and create an environment where women can work late hours as well. But we cannot do this alone. We need to involve various stakeholders, law enforcement and security companies. We would incorporate panic buttons for female drivers, which will alert various security company vehicles in the area and cameras in the vehicle to add an extra layer of security to deter people from taking chances. 

NE: Lefa has aided in sponsorships, where you donated sports kits to the DTS Volleyball Team. Can we expect more support for sports from Lefa?

MA: Definitely, I think I am fortunate enough to have understood from a very young age what sport has done for me and what it can do for everyone else. I have realised that when I am on the field, kicking or throwing a ball, nothing else goes through my mind – but that moment and that action that I am trying to do. Sports help people in a lot of ways; it deters them from participating in criminal activities. We, at Lefa, have made an objective for us to contribute to sports as much as we can through sponsorships. 

NE: Lefa has ambitions to branch out to countries such as Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana. How has this process been like so far?

MA: We have learned that every market in Africa is unique and the requirements that are needed here in Namibia are not the same as in other countries. One needs a tailored approach for every market, which, unfortunately, at the moment, has proven to be a very excessive and financially demanding task. We are still working on it, as we still have plans to extend to various countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

NE: How has Lefa grown since its inception, how many staff members did you start with and how many do you have now in terms of job creation?

MA: We started very lean. There was a point when I was alone – and as activities became more, I took on a co-founder, and we employed an operations manager and marketing practitioner, as well as a fleet manager to inspect the vehicles. As the company grows and we start moving towards our objective of becoming a green and sustainable company, we will need different skill sets. We will be employing more people because our market is unique. 

NE: How does the future look like for Lefa? 

MA: The future for Lefa looks green, sustainable and inclusive in terms of operations and the equipment we will be using to carry out our services.  

- jaeniqueswartz@icloud.com