<article><p>India’s largest cab-hailing firm Ola (ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd) has appointed Simon Smith as managing director to strengthen its presence in Australia, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.</p></article>

<p>India’s largest cab-hailing firm Ola (ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd) has appointed Simon Smith as managing director to strengthen its presence in Australia, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Smith, who is responsible for building Ola’s leadership team in Australia, was chief executive officer (CEO) at eBay Australia. He also had stints at Servcorp and McKinsey.</p>
<p>“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 Smith, speaking of his new position at Ola, effective from July 2018.</p>
<p>Smith’s appointment comes after the ride-hailing platform launched in Australia in January. Currently it’s available in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane and the Gold Coast and will shortly launch in Adelaide.</p>
<p>Ola, the first-ride sharing company in Australia to offer daily payments to driver partners, competes with other cab-aggregators including rival Uber, Australia-based GoCatch and a recent entrant Taxify.</p>
<p>Founded in 2011, the Bengaluru-based start-up that joined the unicorn club in 2015, reported a 70% surge in revenues to ₹1,286 crore for 2016-17. Recently, the Soft Bank-backed Ola has also been in news for talks about a potential merger with rival Uber. Softbank is the largest investor in both the cab-aggregators.</p>
<h4>This article was first published on <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Companies/wEJYjczEGesSfkufkD5HyK/Ola-appoints-Simon-Smith-as-managing-director-for-Australia.html">livemint.com</a></h4>


India’s largest cab-hailing firm Ola (ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd) has appointed Simon Smith as managing director to strengthen its presence in Australia.

Ola appoints Simon Smith as managing director for Australia operations

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Ola appoints Simon Smith as managing director for Australia operations

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