Imagine an online female-only driving platform that seeks to encourage more women in Egypt to drive cars and debunk all stereotypes and prejudices against female driving. That sounds like a great initiative, doesn’t it?
This platform, Direxiona, is planning on doing just that. It employs only women driving instructors and provides them with training sessions on car maintenance and road safety.
Founded by Nayrouz Talaat, the startup aims to empower women on road, and provide them with the opportunity of learning how to drive without the fear of sexual harassment which is pretty prominent in Egypt. According to Talaat, she launched Direxiona after she found out that there’s a high demand from Egyptian women to learn how to drive, unfortunately they’re unable to do so due to safety concerns. Additionally, Talaat mentions that the number of female instructors is low in comparison to the demand which makes it harder for women to find female instructors. Many Egyptian women rely on relatives and close friends to teach them how to drive, but with Direxiona, this can change.
The startup is already up and running since last March, and lots of female students seem to be happy with the service Direxiona has been offering them. Sondos Filles, one of Direxiona’s students said, “I did not have any experience with any driving schools before. But with Direxiona I was safe and comfortable. I was given adequate, professional training, and now I can drive very well and can deal with any emergencies or critical situations on the road.”
Moreover, Direxiona has partnered up with a number of car maintenance startups in order to enable trainees to know more about car repair – something which isn’t taught at Egyptian driving schools. One of them is the startup “E3rf 3rbytk Sa7” (Know Your Car Well), founded by Tarek Zalouk, where they’ll be providing 7-8 training sessions on car maintenance and road safety to Direxiona’s instructors before they begin teaching their students. “They don’t need to be professional mechanics. But of course, a girl needs to know what to do if her car broke down. It makes her more confident on the road and lessens her worries,” Tarek Zalouk told us.
Students can book their driving lessons online through Direxiona’s Facebook page as well as through their website. The startup gives a wide variety of packages which start at a rate of LE450 ($27) and connects instructors with women willing to learn driving according to their age and social class in order to ease the teaching process.
For more information about Direxiona, visit their website here and check out their facebook page.