What makes Ricky Rapa Thomson a Global Shaker?
Ricky Rapa Thomson is the co-founder and director of SafeBoda.
Boda bodas are motorbikes that are frequently seen throughout the streets of Uganda. As a life-long rider, Ricky started working in the field in 2011. Prior to his foray into entrepreneurship, Ricky worked as a security guard.
Despite having dropped out of school, he went on to found his first boda boda business in 2013, as the founder and managing director of Kampala Boda Boda City Tours.
However, later that year, a good friend of his died in a boda boda accident. This made Ricky realise the importance of safety in the then-informal industry.
“I witnessed things that any other person in the industry would have also seen,” he said in an interview with The Observer. “And among these things, was the loss of a very good friend in a boda boda related accident. He was someone I used to work with so closely, he used to help me make money, we used to do business, and once I lost him, I realised something needed to be done.”
SafeBoda riders receive extensive training in road safety, first aid, bike maintenance and customer care, making them among the safest and most professional riders in the country. While on the road, riders are identifiable and trackable through the SafeBoda platform, as well as equipped with hairnets and a spare helmet for customers.
“[We wanted] to bring a solution to the problems of [the] transport sector and make sure that everyone can commute from point A to B in a safe way,” he explained to Chimp Reports. “All we are doing is making life better.”
The company has also established the first motorcycle training industry in Africa.
“We want a motorcycle taxi academy to be in different parts of Uganda,” he explained. “For now, we are looking at five regions. It needs a lot of money, but we believe by setting up these boda boda academies, it will help to professionalise the industry.”
In 2017, Ricky received the Young Achievers Award for Business from Reach A Hand Uganda.
Tags: Africa, safety, transport, UgandaLast updated: May 22, 2020
Next Profile
Technology
The Device Facilitating Social Distancing in the Workplace
Environment
Unsold Expired Beer in Australia Is Being Turned Into Renewable Energy
Business
SFA is Using Blockchain to Make Cashmere Sustainable
Saad Sherida al-Kaabi
Qatar Energy
Toufik Hakkar
Sonatrach
Sheikh Nawaf al-Saud al-Nasser al Sabah
Kuwait Petroleum…
Javad Owji
Ministry of…
Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber
Adnoc
Amin Nasser
Aramco
Ihsan Abdul Jabbar
Ministry of Oil
Ma Yongsheng
Sinopec
Jonathan Wilkinson
Ministry of Natural…
Igor Sechin
Rosneft
Jennifer Granholm, Energy Secretary, US
Department of Energy
Tim Stokely
OnlyFans
Geoff McDonald
Minds@Work
Olavur Gregersen
Ocean Rainforest
Johanan Dujon
Algas Organics
Onyeka Akumah
Farmcrowdy
Oluseun Onigbinde
BudgIT
Alloysius Attah
Farmerline
Nichole Onome Yembra
The Chrysalis…
Bright Simons
mPedigree
Anis Kallel
Kaoun
Victoria Chelangat Sabula
Africa Enterprise…
Mbwana Alliy
Savannah Group
Jamie Pujara
Buy Rent Kenya
Matias Viel
Beeflow
Vivienne Ming
Socos Labs
Mouhamadou Sall
NIMA Codes
Abdellah Mallek
Sylabs
Iyinoluwa E Aboyeji
Future Africa
Obinna Okwodu
Fibre
Brian Curin
Little Kitchen…
Fei-Fei Li (李飞飞)
Stanford Institute…
Mona Skisland
EquiConnector
Justin Escalona
1340 Collective
Erik Huberman
Hawke Media
Bear D’Egidio
Giant Sportz
Merilee Karr
UnderTheDoormat
Felix Böck
ChopValue
Stella McCartney
Stella McCartney
Preethi Kasireddy
TruStory
Catherine Coley
Binance US
Jill Carlson
Open Money…
Tavonia Evans
$GUAP Coin
Meltem Demirors
Coinshares
Leanne Kemp
Everledger
Dawn Dickson
PopCom
Kathryn Haun
Andreessen Horowitz
Linda Xie
Scalar Capital
Alexander Wallin
SprinkleGroup
Willem Sundblad
Oden Technologies
Toni Petersson
Oatly
Michael Fieldhouse
DXC
The Gunia Brothers
Cleanyst
Thilo Schroeder
Nextech Invest
Jim Tananbaum
Foresite Capital…
Ben Auspitz
F-Prime Capital
Jonathan Silverstein
OrbiMed
Carl Gordon
OrbiMed
Bryan Roberts
Venrock
James Topper
Frazier Healthcare…
Beth Seidenberg
Westlake Village…
Jean George
Lightstone Ventures
Arlan Hamilton
Backstage Capital
Robert Nelsen
Arch Venture…
Megan Smith
Shift7
Alan Joyce
Qantas
Joel Simkhai
Grindr
Chris Hughes
Economic Security…
Martine Rothblatt
United Therapeutics
Hayley Sudbury
Werkin
Jennifer Pritzker
Tawani Foundation
Maria Raga
Depop
David Geffen
Peter Thiel
Founders Fund
Komal Ahmad
Copia
António Simões
HSBC
Yonatan Bursztyn
Totto
Xavier López Ancona
Kidzania
Jorge Nazer
Grupo Alto
Andrés Moreno
Open Education
Beto Pérez
Zumba
Andrés Barreto
Socialatom Group
Máximo Cavazzani
Etermax
Ishaan Malhi
Trussle
Marc Benioff
Salesforce
Robert F. Smith
Vista Equity…
Connie Chan (陈梅陵)
Andreessen Horowitz
Eric Paley
Founder Collective
Neeraj Agrawal
Battery Ventures
Jeff Jordan
Andreessen Horowitz
Jim Goetz
Sequoia Capital
Li Ganjie
Ministry of Ecology…
Matt Cohler
Benchmark
Aydin Senkut
Felicis Ventures
Josh Kopelman
First Round Capital
Brian Singerman
Founders Fund
Lee Fixel
Tiger Global…
Ravi Mhatre
Lightspeed Venture…
Aliko Dangote
Dangote Industries
JP Gan (甘剑平)
Qiming Venture…
Hans Tung
GGV Capital
Peter Fenton
Benchmark
Alfred Lin
Sequoia
Bill Gurley
Benchmark
Kathy Xu (徐新)
Capital Today
Ann Miura-Ko
Floodgate
Mary Meeker
Bond Capital
Kirsten Green
Forerunner Ventures
Neil Shen (沈南鹏)
Sequoia Capital…
Barry Silbert
Digital Currency…
Ben Francis
Gymshark
Yuri Milner
Breakthrough…
Guy Kawasaki
Canva
Arianna Huffington
Thrive Global
Ren Zhengfei (任正非)
Huawei
Mukesh Ambani
Reliance Industries…
Norris Koppel
Monese
Paul Lister
The European Nature…
Mark Britt
Iflix
Edwin Broni-Mensah
Give Me Tap
Robin Li (李彦宏)
Baidu
Ritesh Agarwal
OYO Rooms
Anna Fang (方爱之)
ZhenFund
Li Zhifei
Mobvoi
Lei Chen (陈磊)
Xunlei
Chen Xiaohong (陈小红)
H Capital
Jean Liu (柳青)
DiDi
Yin Qi (印奇)
Megvii
Zhang Yiming (张一鸣)
ByteDance
Hu Weiwei (胡玮炜)
Mobike
Cindy Mi (米雯娟)
VIPKID
William Li (李斌)
NIO
Vijay Shekhar Sharma
One97 Communications
Guillaume Capelle
SINGA
Firmin Zocchetto
PayFit
Guillaume Fourdinier
Agricool
Antoine Martin
Zenly
Anne-Christelle Pérochon
Bim
Nicolas Dessaigne
Algolia
Jérémy Clédat
Welcome to the…
Alix de Sagazan
AB Tasty
Cécile Schmollgruber
Stereolabs
Roxanne Varza
Station F
Rodolphe Hasselvander
Blue Frog Robotics
Boris Kesler Fasano
MainBot
Nicolas Fayon
Heek
Alice Zagury
The Family
Xavier Niel
Iliad
Fredrik van Huynh
Absolute Internship
Carl Waldekranz
Shopify
Sam Nurmi
Dooer
Sebastian Martens Harung
Kameo
Jonas Nordlander
Alexander Ljung
SoundCloud
Kent Vorland
SimplyPayMe
Joyeeta Das
Gyana
Sofie Lindblom
Ideation360
Sarah Willingham
Olivia Garfield
Severn Trent
Michelle Mone
Ultimo
Denise Coates
bet365
Jacqueline Gold
Ann Summers
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
Emma Walmsley
GlaxoSmithKline
Mary Perkins
Specsavers
Karren Brady
West Ham United
Deborah Meaden
Sarah Chapman
Faro Energy
Toni Skinner
Pig's Ear Beer
Sarah Friar
Square
Sue Black
Social Entrepreneur
Sarah Wood
Unruly
Emma Watkinson
SilkFred
Cath Kidston
Cath Kidston
Lauren Riley
The Link App
Cadence Johnson
European Business…
Ben Brabyn
Level39
Sherry Coutu
SVC2UK
Carlos Slim
Grupo Carso
Andrew Forrest
Fortescue Metals…
Subhash Chandra
Essel Group
Anand Mahindra
Mahindra Group
Warren Buffet
Berkshire Hathaway
Muhammad Yunus
Grameen Bank
Yuri Milner
Breakthrough…
Takeshi Hakamada
iSpace
Marillyn Hewson
Lockheed Martin
Robert Bigelow
Bigelow Aerospace
Jeff Bezos
Blue Origin
Elon Musk
Tesla, SpaceX
Lionel Barber
Financial Times
Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay
The Daily Telegraph
Richard Scudamore
Premier League
John Cryan
Deutsche Bank
Pierre Gattaz
MEDEF (Movement of…
Baroness Shriti Vadera
Santander UK
Emma Marcegaglia
Business Europe
Herald Kruger
BMW
Laurence D Fink
BlackRock
Len McCluskey
Unite The Union
Adam Marshall
The British Chamber…
Robert Mercer
Renaissance…
Gerard Lyons
Natwealth
Michael Ashcroft
Ashcroft Associates
Huw Evans
Association of…
Lord David Sainsbury
Gatsby Charitable…
Tim Martin
JD Wetherspoon
Mike Thompson
Association of…
Carlos Ghosn
Renault
Paul Polman
Unilever
Lloyd Blankfein
Goldman Sachs
Richard Branson
Virgin
Oliver Robbins
UK Government
Joseph Stiglitz
Columbia University
Charles Wiles
Zzish
Yi Xu
Human
Rich Westman
Kaido Group
David Benigson
Signal Media
Amber Atherton
Zyper
Parsa Ghaffari
AYLIEN
Manfred Weber
European People's…
Michael Denham
MindTrace
Alexandre Omeyer
Stepsize
Jane Zavalishina
Mechanica AI
Stefan Jeschonnek
Zeitgold
Emma Coats
Google Assistant
Nduka Obaigbena
Leaders and Company…
Simon Knowles
Graphcore
Ambarish Mitra
Blippar
Nick Bostrom
Future of Humanity…
Tabitha Goldstaub
Cognition X
Anaïs Barut
DAMAE Medical
Yong Zhao (赵勇)
Deep Glint
Ma Huateng (马化腾)
Tencent Holdings
José Manuel Entrecanales
Acciona
Francesco Starace
Enel
Juliet Davenport
Good Energy
Steve Katsaros
Nokero
Craig Arnold
Eaton Industries
Nicolas Durand
Abionic
Clément Sténac
Dataiku
Brian Murphy
BrainWaveBank
Eric Risser
Artomatic
Poppy Gustafsson
Darktrace
Christophe Folschette
Talkwalker
Ali Parsa
Babylon Health
Ken Mulvany
BenevolentAI
Demis Hassabis
DeepMind
Al Gore
The Climate Reality…
Joaquín de Piérola Marín
Abengoa
Marc Grynberg
Umicore
Nick Boyle
Lightsource
Bill Jones
Pacific Ethanol
Mark Widmar
First Solar
Anders Runevad
Vestas
Todd A. Becker
Green Plains
Richard McKnight & Mark Lilley
Groundswell
Makaela Richardson
Free the Fresher
Tommy Williams
All Shades Covered
Liam James
The iOutlet
Lexi Tamasan
PetShop.co.uk
Jay Radia
Yieldify
Georgina Cooper
Pretaportobello
Joshua Magidson
Zing Zing
Phillip Beahon
Castore
Benjamin Shalom
Ultimate Boxxer
Jason Powell
The Longbow Shop
Nick Hounsfield
The Wave
Chris Robshaw
Zeus Events
Louis Smith
Gérard Jones
Fédération Royale…
Arnold du Toit
Drive Daddy
Tyrelle McLeod-Bentley
Soccer Assist
Baiju Prafulkumar Bhatt & Vlad…
Robinhood
Jack Ma (马云)
Alibaba
Joe Blackman
Collection 26
Yali Zhu
Yunfeng Financial…
Janos Barberis
SuperCharger Fintech…
Valdis Dombrovskis
European Commission
Will Jarvis
The Sunday Painter
Jusnah Gadi
Young Music Boss
Matt Jones
Songkick
Husayn Kassai
Onfido
Luke Massie
Vibe Tickets
Nick Coleman
Snaffling Pig
Saket Modi
Lucideus
Christina Kehl
Knip
Ella Mills
Deliciously Ella
Dan Schulman
PayPal
Charlie Lee-Cook
MOJU Drinks
Perianne Boring
Digital Chamber of…
James Watt
BrewDog
Gem Misa
Full Green
Marta Krupinska
Azimo
Cassandra Stavrou
Propercorn
Peng Lei (彭蕾)
Ant Financial
Paul Joseph
Health and Fitness…
Elliott Perry
Sweat Flex
Jessica Rose
London Jewellery…
Nikolay Storonsky
Revolut
Rosie Davies
The London Fashion…
Morgan Dowler
Love Me (And My…
Mustafa Al-Bassam
Secure Trading
Anna Byrne
Hulafit
Ghela Boskovich
FemTechGlobal
Osama Bedier
Poynt
Nasir Bin Olu Dara Jones
Queensbridge Venture…
Tom Woolf
EdAid
Samir Desai
Funding Circle
Mariano Belinky
Santander
Anna Wallace
Financial Conduct…
Monica Kalia
Neyber
Kieran O’Neill
Thread
Gary Linton
The Linton Group
Tom Courtney
Property Basecamp
Vanessa Warwick
Property Tribes
Edoardo Mozzi
Banda Property
Reza Merchant
The Collective
Akshay Ruparelia
Doorsteps
Peter Ramsey
Movem
Debbie Wosskow
Love Home Swap
Gemma Young
Settled
Rohan Silva
Second Home
Rob Whitehead
Improbable
Mustafa Suleyman
Deep Mind
Robert Small
Miniclip
Phoebe Hugh
Brolly
Ashton Kutcher
Actor/Investor
Diana Paredes
Suade
Matthias Kroener
Fidor
Taavet Hinrikus
TransferWise
Stefano Pessina
Walgreens Boots…
Shachar Bialick
Curve
Rebecca Liebman
LearnLux
Philip Hammond
British Government
Blythe Masters
Susanne Chishti
FINTECH Circle
Claire Calmejane
Lloyds Banking Group
Hiroki Takeuchi
Go Cardless
Andy Murray
Investor
Ollie Purdue
Loot
Laura Coffey
Tech City UK
Morten Lund
Lundxy
Eileen Burbidge
Passion Capital
Anil Stocker
MarketInvoice
Chris Skinner
Author
Andra Sonea
Anthemis/11FS
Damian Kimmelman
DueDil
Chris Gledhill
Secco Aura
Gemma Godfrey
Moola
Devie Mohan
Burnmark
Stu Taylor
Algomi
Ben Corrigan & Jonny Plein
Pouch
Aamar Aslam
Funding Invoice
Tom Blomfield
Monzo
Anne Schuchat
Centre for Disease…
Elizabeth Stark
Lightning Labs
Ben Towers
Social Marley
Ben Jeffries
Influencer
Pieter Wuille
Blockstream
Oliver Bussmann
Bussmann Advisory
Adam Back
Blockstream
Chris Larsen
Ripple
Bobby Lee
BTCC
Alex Tapscott
NextBlock Global
Rhian Lewis
Salvia Media…
Tanya Burr
Tanya Burr
Pan Gongsheng (潘功勝)
People's Bank of…
John McAfee
Luxcore
Mir Liponi
Blockchain Lab
Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban Companies
Andreas Antonopoulos
Let's Talk Bitcoin
Laura Shin
Unchained
Dinis Guarda
Ztudium Group
Peter Smith
Blockchain
Charlie Lee
Litecoin
Jalak Jobanputra
Future\Perfect…
Arianna Simpson
Autonomous Partners
Jay Clayton
Securities and…
Brian Armstrong
Coinbase
Alexia Bonatsos
Dream Machine
The Winklevoss Twins
Gemini
Mark Carney
Bank of England
Bill Gates
Bill & Melinda Gates…
Videos
Latest Tweets
Tweets by TwitterDev