Simon Smith to be Managing Director at Ola Australia

Ola, a ride-sharing platform has appointed Simon Smith as Managing Director for Australia.

Simon will head and develop the leadership team and play a pivotal role in building the company's presence including strategy, marketing, product development, customer service and engagement with driver-partners and other stakeholders.

He has previously served as CEO at eBay Australia, Non-executive Director at Sportsbet, VP of Virtual Offices at Servcorp and Consultant at McKinsey and co.

“I relish building organisations from the ground up and I am delighted to join the ranks at Ola. It’s rare to find a brand like Ola that has built its success on a community-first approach, and that is committed to giving driver-partners a better deal with industry-leading commissions," said Simon Smith, Managing Director, Ola Australia.

Ola's driver-partners are starting with a commission rate of 7.5  percent, one of the lowest rates in the industry. Ola is also the first ride-sharing company in Australia to offer daily payments to driver-partners.

Since launching in January, the service has received a positive response from driver-partners with close to 40,000 registrations. By enabling driver-partners to provide the best experience possible, customers, in turn, will be delighted by their ride.

“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,"Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and CEO, Ola.

Ola is currently available in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane and the Gold Coast and shortly will launch in Adelaide.