About this episode
Obioha Alukogu, owner of Obel Transportation in Dallas, Texas, had a single ambulatory vehicle when a multinational ride share company asked how many he ran and he answered 20. He signed the NDA, bought two wheelchair accessible vans at a combined $120,000 to make the answer true, and the fleet has since reached 11 vehicles in three years. Growth ran on one added vehicle per quarter through 2022 and 2023, forced by broker acceptance rates stuck between 47% and 52%, and his portal now carries 900 to 1,000 accepted trips a month.
Key takeaways
- His first attempt died in 2014 on a credentialing requirement: the broker would not onboard him without a wheelchair accessible van, and he could only afford $7,000 Toyota Siennas. He quit for a year.
- The 20 vehicle claim came with a bill. He bought two wheelchair accessible vans at a combined $120,000 to cover it, then ran the ride share contract and private trips side by side.
- He paused buying in 2024 to read his KPIs, then spent 2025 on new Ford Transits configured for stretchers, two wheelchairs at once, and an oxygen tank holder, targeting hospital discharges.
- Acceptance rate is his growth signal. At 47% to 52% he was returning about half of broker trips; the target is 95%, and day one on the portal showed 200 trips waiting.
- Website first. He had one built in three days with a logo and Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram presence, then answered inbound requests within an hour, which he says usually closes the deal.
Chapters
- 0:02 One van, and he told them he had 20
- 0:52 Starting as a driver in 2012
- 3:39 The 2014 startup that stalled on a wheelchair van
- 4:52 A detour into IT security at HCL and PwC
- 6:15 Why his wife told him to go back to NEMT
- 8:13 Restarting in 2022 with a website and one vehicle
- 9:14 The ride share call that changed everything
- 10:37 Buying two wheelchair vans to cover the claim
- 12:09 Why a website is the first thing he tells students to build
- 17:21 One vehicle every quarter, then a pause in 2024
- 20:06 Broker acceptance rates and why he kept buying vans
- 22:18 Moving into stretchers, gurneys, and hospital discharges
