ADVERTORIAL
Student-centred mobility initiative aims to prioritise safety, economic empowerment and skills development in South African student cities.
With growing concerns about gender-based violence in South Africa’s e-hailing industry, newly established UNIRIDE Solutions is positioning itself as a student-centred mobility initiative aimed at improving safety for female students travelling in college and university towns and cities across South Africa and the broader African continent.
Led by black businesswoman and entrepreneur Funeka Nyaqela, Chief Executive Officer of UNIRIDE Solutions, the platform has been designed to improve the travel experience of student communities, with a particular focus on safety, economic empowerment and skills development for female students and the broader higher education sector.
A defining feature of UNIRIDE Solutions is the integration of Student Economic Empowerment (SEE) into its business model. The approach is intended to ensure that student drivers are not merely participants in the mobility economy, but can become shareholders in the business and active contributors to the broader student economy.
Through this model, UNIRIDE seeks to create opportunities for students to participate in income generation, business ownership and long-term economic advancement while pursuing their studies.
One of the proposed innovations is a vehicle ownership scheme designed to enable qualifying student drivers to ultimately own the vehicles they operate after approximately 36 to 48 months of service. The model would provide a pathway from student driver participation to vehicle ownership and entrepreneurship, subject to final financing, contractual and eligibility arrangements.
This approach positions student mobility as more than a transport service. It seeks to establish a platform through which students can gain practical work experience, build assets and participate in the ownership structures of the businesses they help operate.
Once fully operational, the UNIRIDE fleet is expected to recruit registered students as drivers across participating institutions. The model will allow female passengers to request rides from women student drivers, or from male student drivers familiar with their respective campuses and surrounding student communities.
By prioritising student recruitment, UNIRIDE seeks to establish a mobility system in which drivers operate within the rules, regulations and institutional frameworks of the higher education institutions where they are registered.
The campus-based approach is intended to strengthen accountability, improve familiarity with local student environments and support safer transport experiences for students.
The UNIRIDE Cadet Programme is designed to extend beyond driver recruitment by providing structured skills development and career preparation for students.
An important component of the programme is the integration of driving education into the UNIRIDE fleet. The fleet is intended to operate as a practical learning environment and support the establishment of campus-based driving school services.
Through this initiative, students could receive driver skills development and work towards obtaining valid driver’s licences before entering the job market, subject to applicable licensing requirements, accredited training arrangements and programme implementation.
The model seeks to equip students with practical transport skills while creating opportunities for professional development and future employment.
The UNIRIDE Cadet Programme is also envisioned as a multidisciplinary skills development platform, supporting students in several professional and entrepreneurial fields.
Proposed areas of training and participation include tour guide training to support tourism, cultural experiences and student-city exploration; call centre cadet training for customer service, mobility coordination and passenger support; entrepreneurship development; technical skills in vehicle maintenance and fleet support; and business analysis, including operations, data analysis, service improvement and strategic decision-making.
By incorporating these areas, UNIRIDE aims to build a broader talent ecosystem that extends beyond driving to include tourism, technology, customer service, entrepreneurship and business management.
Under the proposed safety framework, incidents of misconduct involving female passengers would initially be reported to the relevant campus protection services, followed by reporting to the South African Police Service (SAPS) where appropriate.
The framework is intended to promote institutional accountability while ensuring that serious incidents can be referred to the appropriate law enforcement authorities. Final reporting procedures would need to be aligned with applicable law, institutional policies and passenger protection requirements.
UNIRIDE Solutions seeks to contribute to the development of safer, more accessible and economically inclusive mobility systems across South African student cities.
Through its proposed combination of student transport, Student Economic Empowerment, vehicle ownership opportunities, driver education and multidisciplinary cadet training, the initiative aims to connect mobility with student livelihoods, professional development and entrepreneurship.
The long-term vision is to support a model in which students are not only passengers and service users, but also drivers, shareholders, skilled professionals, entrepreneurs and contributors to the economic development of their student cities.
UNIRIDE Solutions’ proposed approach reflects a broader ambition to position student mobility as a catalyst for safer campuses, economic participation and sustainable student-city development.
The UNIRIDE brand will be launched through a series of Student Mobility Symposia to be hosted in Gauteng and the Eastern Cape during October, Transport Month, and November 2026.
