Left to right: Tunde Kehinde, Ayodeji Adewunmi and Bankole Cardoso at TechCabal Sessions, July 2014
Bankole Cardoso, the founding CEO of Easy Taxi Nigeria, a Rocket Internet backed startup, has confirmed that he is indeed leaving the company to work on new projects.
He does not say when, but presumably it will be effective shortly. Yesterday, we reported that a job listing from Easy Taxi Nigeria on LinkedIn tipped us off to the startup’s search for a new leader.
In an emailed response to TechCabal’s enquiry, Bankole said:
“As an entrepreneur with a knack for building things, I saw a need for a stable, reliable and safe means of transportation and I decided to do something about it. This prompted the birth of Easy Taxi Nigeria, a service that has over the past eighteen months and counting, catered to the inherent need of change in the Nigerian taxi culture and as such, remains the foremost taxi requesting service available in Lagos and Abuja.
Having birthed and weaned Easy Taxi Nigeria to a stage where I believe it can stand strong and I do not have to personally monitor the day to day activities of the business, we are looking for someone who will ensure Easy Taxi Nigeria remains the number one taxi requesting service as I move on to face a different challenge. This doesn’t necessarily mean I will not be affiliated with Easy Taxi any more, I always will be and as hard as it was a choice for me to make, the time has come for me to take the next step and work on other projects.”
Bankole Cardoso has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Boston College and has worked in financial services at PwC as well as in private equity with the Carlyle Group before moving back to Nigeria in July 2013 to lead Easy Taxi Nigeria. The 28 year old entrepreneur was in a 2014 listed among Africa’s 30 most promising young entrepreneurs by Forbes Magazine.
