South Africans will soon be hailing taxis from the comfort of their smartphones thanks to a new Cape Town-based start-up called Zapacab. Soon they could be paying for them and vetting them, too.

Founded by 25-year-old Rupert Sully and 29-year-old Paul Donner, Zapacab is one of the 10 start-ups taken on by 88mph, a privately funded venture fund and start-up accelerator. 88mph provided the initial funding for the start-up, it’s now shopping around for further investment.

Though there are a number of similar international services — most notably Uber and Hailo — Sully says Zapacab is far more than a duplication of these because the South African market offers unique challenges that make trying to copy and paste a solution difficult.

“You need to really have a good understanding for the way business works in Africa. It is not just about transplanting a successful model but seeing how that can be adapted to meet the unique challenges on the ground,” Sully says.

“The biggest thing is that in a lot of places you would deal directly with the drivers,” he explains. “Here most people work for a cab company and rely heavily on the company’s dispatch system.”

For now Zapacab is working only with taxi companies rather than individual drivers because companies do their own vetting and have a vested interest in ensuring drivers offer good service.

“Another important difference is that lots of drivers abroad will just cruise around and pick up hailing customers. Because of the cost of fuel that’s not common in South Africa. Instead, cabs will park and wait for a call from dispatch or will hover around prime locations.”

South Africa also presents challenges in terms of technological aptitude and existing equipment. “In developed markets, drivers often already have smartphones and know how to use them, so companies simply install an app on the driver’s device. Here, drivers often don’t have capable devices or the knowledge of how to use them.”

To get around this, Zapacab supplies drivers with a basic smartphone — currently the Samsung Galaxy Pocket — and teaches the drivers how to use it. Drivers are supplied with a charger and cradle and, for the time being, Zapacab foots the bill for the data the device uses.

“In the current model, we pay for data. But because of the amount of interest we’ve had and the value drivers see in terms of mapping and other potential additional uses of the device, it’s got to the point where some companies are offering to pay for the data themselves,” Sully says.

Zapacab has been launched as a Web-based service rather than as standalone apps. “We wanted to get to a large market quickly,” Sully says, adding that cost was also a consideration. Mobile apps are in the pipeline.

The service is still in beta and is being tested by small groups. Those interested in trying the app can sign up on Zapacab’s website ahead of its public launch, which is expected in the next three months.

In the meantime, Sully and Donner are still trying to decide how to go about monetising Zapacab. Sully says the service offers many options for monetisation, from taking a small commission from taxi companies for each trip, to all manner of digital advertising. “Once we have a supply base, there’s so much potential there,” he says.

“In the long term there’s also massive potential in terms of the data we’re collecting. With location-based devices, we’re mapping out a city. There’s the potential to preempt congestion, ‘heatmap’ demand and plan routes. It gets very exciting when applied to chaotic cities like Lagos or Nairobi.”

One of the most requested features from users and drivers alike is a peer-review mechanism. “We want to have our user interface offer various filters, from the distance of a cab from you to its rating by other users,” Sully says.

For users, reviews would provide peace of mind and for drivers it would mean loyalty and return business. “Users could, for example, choose a cab that’s closer or a opt to wait for a cab with higher ratings.”