Mobility has been an industry on the rise for the last two decades and as the world shifts, the demand for convenience in accessing services is growing in momentum.

The function of transport has grown beyond its initial purpose of moving people and goods from point A to B, to being a mode of delivering services. We have seen this predominately in the healthcare sector, where mobile health clinics have played a vital role in delivering health care services to poverty-stricken and isolated areas where access to quality healthcare is scarce. Mobile health clinics are an example of how mobility increases access to services and allows for greater operational flexibility. It is these two benefits that we think the government and private sector can benefit from.

In recent years we have seen a gradual adoption of mobility within the government administrative services, and we believe that further adoption can help to address the challenges that these departments currently face. An example of an early adopter would be the Department of Employment and Labour’s UIF office where they launched mobile UIF offices across the country as part of the campaign “Taking Services to the People.” The success of this project and the impact it has had is a testament to how mobility can not only improve access to essential government services but can assist in dealing with the large administrative backlogs in many government departments. Another example is the Department of Home Affairs which deployed several trucks to KZN after the floods, which caused damage to the communication infrastructure, which Home Affairs uses to provide its services. In this scenario, we see how the flexibility that mobility allows can be a great benefit in times of disaster. With the current socio-economic climate, we foresee that our government will be adopting mobility at a much faster rate.

Mobility offers a lot of opportunities for entrepreneurs from different industries to expand their businesses and grow at a rapid rate. This includes private sector administrative services, financial services (e.g. banks), education, food & beverage services (e.g. food trucks) and more. Mobility is not solely for the convenience of a prospective client; it also benefits those offering their services. It allows entrepreneurs to reach a wider audience, maximize their profits and increase operational flexibility. Considering how small businesses often experience challenges of having to thrive while covering huge, fixed overhead costs such as rental costs, mobility is a positive alternative as it reduces a lot of these overhead costs.

The flexibility to move around in a mobile business ensures that business owners can schedule their vehicle to be at places where demand is high thus ensuring maximum reach and increasing profits. In addition to this, mobile businesses in South Africa can run 100% off the already constrained electricity grid through the means of solar-powered mobiles, reinforcing the concept that mobility is a more attractive offer to business owners. Mobility has become such a prominent way of doing business that even forward-looking government departments have begun to incorporate policies around mobile businesses. The City of Cape Town’s Economic Growth Directorate Vos James is calling on the public to comment on the draft ‘Mobile Business Policy’ that was published on the 1st of July 2022.

As the world is rapidly evolving, mobility possesses unique opportunities for growth and expansion for both the public and private sectors. As Guud, we are excited to be at the forefront of this evolution.