Ride-sharing platform Ola has appointed Simon Smith as its managing director for Australia.
Simon will head and develop the leadership team to strengthen Ola’s presence Down Under, looking into strategy, marketing, product development, customer service, and engagement with driver-partners and other stakeholders.
Speaking of his new position, Simon Smith said: “I relish building organizations from the ground up and I am delighted to join the ranks at Ola.”
Ola is currently available in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane and the Gold Coast and will shortly launch in Adelaide.
Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-Founder & CEO, Ola said: “I’m really excited to have Simon join us as MD. Simon is a very entrepreneurial and strategic leader who has demonstrated strong business and people leadership in his career. He will lead Ola’s mission to build the future of mobility in Australia and create impact for the millions of consumers and tens of thousands of driver partners.”
Simon was previously roles include Chief Executive Officer of eBay Australia, a non-executive director of Sportsbet, vice-president of Virtual Offices at Servcorp and a consultant at McKinsey and Company.
In Australia, Ola’s driver-partners are starting with a commission rate of 7.5%, one of the lowest rates in the industry.