Uber has wound down its operations in Nigeria and Uganda, ending a 12-year presence in Africa's most populous country and a decade in Uganda. The Nigerian closure took effect on 2 September.

It leaves Uber in four African markets, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Egypt, after earlier exits from Côte d'Ivoire in 2025 and Tanzania in February. The closures came on the same day Uber announced it is cutting about 3,300 jobs globally, roughly a tenth of its headcount.

These are not cuts forced by a shrinking business. Gross bookings hit $58 billion in the quarter to 30 June, up 24% year on year, on revenue of $14.2 billion. The restructuring cuts managers by 20%, halves the number of one- and two-person teams, and caps remote work at about 1% of staff, taking headcount back to roughly where it stood in 2021. What explains the African exits is where Uber now wants to spend.

It has committed more than $10 billion to autonomous vehicle partnerships with Avride, Lucid, Nuro and Rivian, a bet that only pays off in dense, high-value markets with regulatory clearance for driverless fleets. In July, it moved on Delivery Hero, handing Prosus a R40-billion exit. Neither strategy has much use for price-sensitive riders on thin margins.

Uber says the decision is limited to these two markets and that it remains committed to sub-Saharan Africa.

TechCentral reported the closures and Dara Khosrowshahi's message to staff about layers, fragmented ownership and structures that no longer serve the company at its current scale. Techweez noted local rivals including SafeBoda and Faras have taken ground in Kampala, and that Uber's Nigerian help centre stays open until 23 September for outstanding account issues. Quartz covered the global restructuring and the flattening of the management hierarchy.

Uber is keeping South Africa, and it committed R5 billion here over three years at the South African Investment Conference five months ago, covering electric vehicle fleets, charging infrastructure and merchant hardware.

Sub-Saharan Africa GM Deepesh Thomas said at the time that the figure mixed new money with spending already in the pipeline, and was openly meant to strengthen the company's position with regulators.

That position is still unsettled. The National Land Transport Amendment Act was gazetted in September 2025 and gave platforms 180 days to register with the National Public Transport Regulator. Bolt applied in November and had its certificate by February. inDrive secured its registration in June. Four exits in two years is a reminder that a market you are not profitable in is a market you can be asked to leave.

You might also like our piece on why UberX was discontinued in South Africa, the Uber GDPR fine over automated driver deactivations, and how SA online retail reached a tenth of all retail turnover.

Get more SA tech and business news and subscribe to The Open Letter.