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Ride-hailing company Uber has withdrawn from Nigeria and Uganda as part of a global restructuring that will eliminate about 3,300 jobs and shift more investment towards autonomous vehicles and robotaxis.
Uber said it discontinued operations in the two African markets on September 2, citing changing business priorities and its investment strategy across the continent.
The company, however, said the decision would not affect its operations in other Sub-Saharan African markets, according to the business insider.
The exits come as Uber announced its largest workforce reduction since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The planned job cuts represent about 10 percent of its global workforce of approximately 34,000 employees at the end of 2025.
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Uber chief executive officer, Dara Khosrowshahi, said the company’s rapid expansion over the past five years had resulted in additional management layers, fragmented responsibilities and organisational complexity.
He said the restructuring was intended to simplify the company’s structure and improve decision-making.
The number of employees positioned seven or more reporting levels below the chief executive is expected to fall by 20 percent, while teams with only one or two direct reports will be reduced by nearly half.
Uber is also reducing fully remote positions to about one percent of its workforce.
The company said savings from the restructuring would be redirected towards areas with higher growth potential, including ride-sharing, delivery and autonomous mobility.
Uber plans to invest more than US$10 billion in robotaxis in the coming years as it seeks to establish its platform as a marketplace for driverless transportation.
The move comes as competition in autonomous mobility increases, with companies such as Waymo and Tesla expanding their driverless vehicle programmes.
For Uber, autonomous vehicles present both an opportunity and a challenge because its traditional ride-hailing model relies heavily on human drivers.
The company is seeking to position itself to provide the technology and marketplace through which autonomous vehicles can offer rides, rather than being displaced by companies operating their own driverless fleets.
The withdrawal from Nigeria and Uganda therefore represents a targeted reduction in Uber’s African operations rather than a continent-wide exit.
The company said it would continue operating in other African markets where it sees stronger opportunities for growth and investment.
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