Driven by a passion for safe transportation

The term 'jive' is a slang word for taxi that is commonly used by young Namibians and has become the name for a business developed by Chazi Malango. The company works via an online app that allows its users to request a taxi or shuttle using their smartphone or laptop in Windhoek.

Malango is a qualified geospatial analyst and technician at the bachelor’s level and is currently pursuing his honours degree in geo-information technology at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust).

His passions and motivations are creating a positive change.

"I would like to leave a legacy that will inspire the next person to challenge the status quo and reach their full potential, just as I was inspired by Elon Musk, Nipsey Hussle and my father, Veston Malango," he said.

An idea is born

While travelling abroad, Malango noticed the ease of movement around towns and saw the need to develop a project and business that would make the same possible for all Namibians.

Malango said besides seeing his close friends struggling to find accessible and safe transportation in Namibia, he has faced the challenge himself. An idea to start a taxi service came to him, and he took the time to figure out the next step to make it a reality.

The Jive team now consists of eight developers spread across Zambia and Namibia who deal with the development of the app and focus on the website; a management team of three who assist with planning and any strategic campaigns to be run; and partnerships.

Using the app

To cater to every Namibian while taking their budget into consideration, Jive offers three different options to choose from when requesting their service. A user can make use of the private, public, and Jive drivers. The private taxi is for an individual picked up by the taxi driver of a normal taxi and is the only passenger in the car.

The public taxi is open for the taxi driver to accept other requests and pick up other clients on the way, while the Jive driver caters to anyone with a private car who would like to make some extra money making use of the Jive platform.

To make use of Jive, users can download the app from Google Play or the App Store.

Once the app is downloaded, the user can sign in, select their current location and destination, and then select the ride type desired. The Jive app will confirm pickup when the request is accepted and the service is paid for.

In this way, Namibians can easily travel around town at different fees depending on the distance to be travelled and the ride type selected.

Growing the business



Malango said the team is working hard to bring new and updated features to the app to enhance and advance those that already exist. One of these will include a mobile or cashless method of payment for users where they can pay for their taxi rides using an online money transfer service.

Jive has expanded to Zambia, where the team is preparing for operations next month. The expansion will start with an official launch where the community can learn more about the app and how to make use of its services.

This expansion, Malango explained, will not be the last one. The team is looking forward to expanding to more parts of the continent.

He added that since the start of launching the app, team members have experienced valuable development in their careers at the company.

And, from the start, a group of interns played a role in developing the idea to the start of operations, and he has supported their career development.

He added that some have taken on bigger roles at other reputable organisations, which he is proud of.

"We are currently in the process of looking for more interns to join the team," he said.