KENYA – BasiGo, a mobility start-up, has appointed Mr. Moses Nderitu as the Managing Director for its operations in Kenya and the promotion of Ms. Doreen Orishaba to Managing Director for BasiGo Rwanda.
Mr. Moses Nderitu, who previously served as BasiGo’s Chief Revenue Officer, has been a key person advocating for electric mobility in Kenya.
Moses Nderitu has been one of the leading advocates for electric mobility in Kenya, in both government and the private sector. As BasiGo’s Chief Commercial Officer, Mr. Nderitu has led the introduction of E-bus technology to the Kenyan matatu sector and helped BasiGo secure over 450 reservations from Nairobi bus operators.
Mr. Nderitu has also helped lead the establishment of the Electric Mobility Association of Kenya (EMAK) which has advocated for policies to catalyze the entire e-mobility industry in Kenya.
Commenting on the appointment of Mr. Nderitu, Jit Bhattacharya, BasiGo CEO, said “BasiGo is privileged to have Moses Nderitu, an exceptional entrepreneur and leader, taking the helm of BasiGo Kenya.
“With over 90% of Kenya’s electricity coming from renewable energy, Kenya has the potential to be a global leader in clean, affordable, and smart public transport. I can think of no one better to make that vision a reality than Moses Nderitu.”
Prior to joining BasiGo, Mr. Nderitu was Director and Regulatory Advisor at ARC Ride and served as Board Member and Vice Chair, National Transport and Safety Authority for six years. He is an alumni of Strathmore Business School, Kenya and a serial entrepreneur.
Ms. Doreen Orishaba on the other hand joined BasiGo in January 2022. She was part of the team that led to the company’s expansion to Rwanda.
Ms. Orishaba previously worked at Kiira Motors Corporation in Uganda, where she led the design and strategy development of the first locally manufactured electric buses in the region. She has also worked as an engineer at Ford Motor Company in Michigan.
“There are few professionals in East Africa as experienced in the electrification of public transport as Doreen Orishaba,” Jit Bhattacharya commended Doreen.
Under her leadership, BasiGo aims to deliver 200 electric buses to Kigali by 2025.
BasiGo currently has 19 Electric buses deployed with 6 Nairobi bus operators. BasiGo Kenya aims to deploy 1,000 locally-assembled electric buses to Nairobi bus operators by 2026 through the company’s innovative Pay-As-You-Drive financing platform.
In December 2023, BasiGo secured a US$5 million debt facility from British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance organization, for delivery of 100 locally-produced electric buses.
The funding came from BII’s Climate Innovation Facility, a catalytic programme for accelerating climate innovation in emerging markets. The US$5 million investment will be used to scale local assembly of electric buses to cater to the rapidly growing demand from bus operators in Kenya.
In November 2021 the company had launched operations in Nairobi having secured KES100 million (US$900,000) in funding earlier in the year. It then raised a US$4.3 million seed funding round in February 2022, and followed that up in November with US$6.6 million in new seed funding to begin commercial delivery of locally-manufactured electric buses and charging infrastructure.
Liked this article? Subscribe to DealStreet Africa News, our regular email newsletter with the latest news, deals and insights from Africa’s business, economy, and more. SUBSCRIBE HERE
