Build the Business Case for a Gig Worker Cooperative in Abuja

Ride-hailing and delivery platforms have grown fast in Nigerian cities, but the drivers and riders powering them have almost no employment protections. In Abuja, Bolt and Uber drivers report working 12-hour days to cover platform fees, fuel costs, and vehicle maintenance, with nothing left over for healthcare or savings. When the platform changes its pricing, they have no recourse. Worker cooperatives are not a new idea globally, but they are rare in Nigeria's gig economy. The cooperative model could allow platform workers to pool resources for vehicle maintenance, negotiate collectively with platforms, and fund basic welfare for members. The challenge is making it financially viable: membership fees need to be low enough for workers earning at subsistence level, but high enough to sustain operations. Your deliverable is a business model and pitch deck for a gig worker cooperative targeting one specific worker category in Abuja: ride-hailing drivers, food delivery riders, or freelance domestic workers. The business model should cover membership structure, revenue streams, operating costs, governance, and a realistic path to 500 members within 18 months. The pitch deck should be 10 to 12 slides, designed as if you were presenting to a social enterprise investor or a development finance institution. Good work will include primary or secondary research on what Abuja gig workers actually earn and spend, not just global statistics. It will also grapple honestly with the risks: regulatory uncertainty, platform retaliation, and low trust in collective institutions. The best submissions will show a model that is resilient to those risks, not one that ignores them.