JOHANNESBURG– As Mobalyz marks an important milestone by entering the final phase of its restructuring process, the business says it is buoyed by the support it has received from the industry, its partners and staff. The final phase of the transition, which involves restructuring the business’s balance sheet, is crucial to solidifying Mobalyz’s long-term liquidity and stability, says Mobalyz CEO Sean Doherty.
Mobalyz recently announced that its management team had bought a substantial portion of equity from its previous majority shareholder, Transaction Capital. The move structured Mobalyz as a private company.
Mobalyz is a company underpinned by three core businesses serving the South African vehicle market. There is SA Taxi which serves SMEs in the taxi industry, Mobalyz-as-a-Service (MaaS) which provides a VAF (Vehicle Asset Financing) partnering solution for financial institutions such as Banks/Dealerships and Gomo which offers vehicle financing and insurance directly to consumers.
“SA Taxi is obviously very special to us and it’s all hands on deck to stabilise the financing, insuring and selling of taxis to taxipreneurs because we appreciate its strategic importance to the country’s public transport sector and economy. Mobalyz is not a rebranding of SA Taxi. Mobalyz at its core is three businesses, SA Taxi and two innovative solutions in Gomo and MaaS, within credibly high growth potential,” says Doherty.
Doherty says that there has been relief around SA Taxi from customers, employees, and funders as a result of the strategic changes made and the continued sustainability of the business. “The taxi industry plays a vital role in South African life, transporting around 15-million people daily. It is crucial to support and finance this industry effectively and responsibly. All of the 30,000+ vehicles we finance, which collectively travel four million kilometres per day, are owned by entrepreneurs running small businesses in a sector under pressure.”
“We are unwavering in our commitment to the long-term health of SA Taxi,” he says, urging all stakeholders to continue working collaboratively with Mobalyz through the final restructuring phase. Doherty explains that while there structuring is complex, the business’s funders have enabled the business to remain sustainable by finding innovative medium-term funding solutions.
Turning to Gomo, which has partnered with WeBuyCars since inception almost 2 years ago, Doherty says the business is leading the way with a new approach to financing older cars. He says it is an important service, bringing a market segment into the mobility sector which would otherwise have been excluded. SA Taxi’s DNA around impact through financial inclusion permeates Gomo as well.
“The business has written more than 7,000 loans in less than 22 months, supporting first-time and emerging buyers. This represents a significant portion of the market that Gomo competes in. We have every intention of growing this business even further, by working with other partners and moving into the cheaper new car market,” explains Doherty.
Alongside its consumer-facing Gomo brand, Doherty says that Mobalyz operates a business-to-business MaaS division that is experiencing strong growth. “The business works closely with financial institutions such as Banks to provide customised VAF (Vehicle Asset Finance) solutions, comprising the following mobility-focused services: Vehicle Insurance. Vehicle Financing, Vehicle Refurbishment & Resale that can be tailored to address their specific mobility-related needs and pain points,” explains Doherty.
“The flexibility of the MaaS offering has allowed us to rapidly expand our roster of clients,” says Doherty, explaining that Mobalyz has a very large, and mature, telematics dataset comprising a host of different capabilities that can help clients recover missing assets as well as to proactively help distressed customers restructure their obligation, amongst many other applications.
He says Mobalyz has built strong partnerships across the financial, technology and mobility sectors that have been pivotal in enabling the business to maintain operations while pursuing new growth opportunities during this transformative period.
“Partners such as Standard Bank and Toyota Financial Services have been very supportive during the restructuring process, while our relationship with telematics businesses is obviously strategically very important. As we continue to grow our MaaS and Gomo offerings we will be building strong partnerships with more businesses as we look to enrich and grow the country’s mobility sector,” concludes Doherty.
