An Uber like platform for Sea Transport. You can book your ride from one island to another or hire an entire vessel. the choice is yours in odiapp.
The Market
In order to understand our app, it is important to introduce our test market — The Maldives. Chances are that you already know Maldives as World’s Leading Tourist Destination. Apart from this fact, interestingly Maldives is the only country which covers 99% ocean and only 1% land spread across 26 tiny Islands. This unique geographical feature makes Sea Transport as one of the Main mode of travel since as long as we remember. Everyday thousands travel via a mode of a sea transport in Maldives.
The idea
The idea is a vision of Ali Nafi — Founding partner who got the idea of harmonising the sea transport sector. As idea was discussed amongst us, we started working on a framework back in 2019 and then development was started in the brink of a pandemic at an island where self-quarantined and started working on the development. Later in 2020 after returning from the island, In order for us to understand the market in-depth we travelled to various islands and spent time with the vessel operators and other stakeholders on their thoughts as well. As tiring as it was for us to travel back and fourth, this remains so far the most interesting approach which contributes to the success of odiapp. By end of 2020 we were able to launch our idea as MVP to test it in Maldives market.
The App
Odiapp is a speedboat booking platform for travellers, through which they can either book a speedboat which travels between islands of Maldives on a schedule or travellers can request for a private charter to anywhere in the Maldives. So far as I write this article, Travellers can book their scheduled trips to South Ari Atoll, North Ari Atoll, Raa Atoll, Baa Atoll, Vaavu Atoll and Kaafu Atoll.
Local Marine Vessel Operators can register and become a partner with us through our operator app. As part of benefits, odi assistance will help them to manage their fleet, provide ability to edit routes anytime, switch between vessels, assign agents, track performance, e-boarding and access to accountancy and reporting.
We made sure to build a business that is very much focused on sustainability and the impact of it on the environment. After the launch in 2020 until today we have issued over 80,000 e-tickets through Odiapp and the platform provided for operators. With the introduction of homestay tourism to the Maldives this year, our vision is to be the frontrunner in providing hassle-free transportation in the destination.
Although we are a tech-savvy nation, we still believe major part for us to successfully deploy depends on how well we educate and market our Platform as a service to the locals as well as guests.
Learn more on our app: https://linktr.ee/odiapp
