When we were deciding where to launch HICH, the answer was obvious: Minneapolis. Not because it was the easiest market — it wasn't. But because Minneapolis has something rare: a driver community that's organized, vocal, and ready to build something better.
When major rideshare companies threatened to exit Minnesota over driver pay regulations in 2024, drivers didn't just protest — they started building alternatives. Co-ops, new apps, community organizations. The energy in this market is unlike anywhere else in the country.
HICH's co-founder Mustafa Sheikh spent months at the airport talking to drivers before we launched. He spoke with them in their languages, listened to their frustrations, and heard the same thing over and over: drivers wanted fair pay, transparency, and dignity. Three things the incumbent platforms weren't delivering.
The Twin Cities also has one of the largest East African immigrant communities in the United States. Many of those community members are rideshare drivers — people who came to Minnesota to build a better life and found themselves trapped in a system that took 40% of what they earned. HICH was built for them.
We're starting in Minneapolis because this is where the need is greatest, the community is strongest, and the appetite for change is real. The vision is to grow from here — but Minneapolis will always be where HICH began.
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