Ola appoints Simon Smith as Managing Director for Australia

Ola is strengthening its presence in Australia with the appointment of Simon Smith as Managing Director. Simon will head and develop the leadership team and play a pivotal role in building Ola’s presence including strategy, marketing, product development, customer service, and engagement with driver-partners and other stakeholders.

Simon’s previous roles include Chief Executive Officer of eBay Australia, Non-Executive Director of Sportsbet, VP of Virtual Offices at Servcorp and a consultant at McKinsey and Company.

Speaking of his new position, Simon Smith, Managing Director, Ola Australia, said: “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.”

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

Taking a refreshing approach to ride-sharing, Ola’s focus is on investing in driver-partners and supporting them with new technology, training and ways to increase earnings. Ensuring they take home more for each ride, Ola's driver-partners are starting with a commission rate of 7.5%, 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.