This 22-year-old is building a Go-Jek competitor exclusively for women

A few months ago, 22-year-old Brian Mulyadi wrapped up his college degree at Boston University and returned to his home country, Indonesia, with a business idea. Things have moved fast since then.

Brian launched a company called LadyJek – it’s an idea so absurd that I thought it was a joke when I first heard about it. Of course, Brian is serious.

LadyJek is a motorcycle ride-hailing service exclusive to women. If you’re female, you can order a motorcycle ride through the app, and the rider arriving to pick you up will also be female.

Yes, LadyJek is very similar to its bigger brothers, Go-Jek and GrabBike – both of which have become popular in Indonesia. Hitching a ride on the back of someone else’s motorcycle is a common form of transportation here. But for a bootstrapped startup to take it up with two well-established players sounds like an impossible battle. Or is it?

Brandishing pink logos, stylish striped jackets, and pink helmets, LadyJek thinks it can fill a gap the two other services aren’t addressing, which is to make motorcycle rides a viable option for women.

Motorcycle riding is men’s work

“I feel that there is [something women] haven’t found in current solutions,” Brian says. “They don’t have the feeling of security and comfort they expect.”

It goes for both riders and passengers. Female motorcycle riders may feel intrigued to participate in the opportunity to earn extra income by taking on passengers, but haven’t felt comfortable joining GrabBike or Go-Jek. Generally, motorcycle riding is considered men’s work. Female riders for these services have been spotted, but they are in a clear minority. Some have, probably unwillingly, turned into social media sensations – just google Gojek driver cewek (woman Gojek driver) to get an idea. Not every woman would feel comfortable with that.

On the passenger’s side, female passengers may want to hire a motorcycle ride because it’s fast and convenient, but haven’t considered it much so far, because hopping onto the back of another man’s bike is deemed inappropriate and dangerous.

LadyJek is thus not necessarily competing with Go-Jek and GrabBike, but trying to expand the market to include a group of potential riders and passengers who would have otherwise stayed away from it.

This, Brian says, is also a reason why he thinks it’s not too big a deal that LadyJek can’t keep up with the highly subsidised fares GrabBike and Go-Jek currently offer, as both compete fiercely for market leadership in the archipelago.

“We can not compete in price, but we can offer better customer service, and a secure environment for female riders and passengers,” Brian says.

Three registration offices in two weeks

A network of women on wheels