After graduating from USC with a Mass Communications degree in 2020, Marquis Webb planned to earn his masters degree in Human Resources from Villanova University. Like many others, Webb’s plan was completely derailed as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools and forced him to reconsider his future.
After months of searching for a new career path, Webb had a dream about starting his own rideshare company and decided to take action.
“Everything I’ve seen, I’ve just kind of seen it in my dreams, and I brought it to life,” Webb said.
This dream would one day turn into local rideshare company, Kola Kruze, which he currently runs through the website kolakruze.com. Customers can choose to book either a one-way or a round-trip ride for both long and short distances. Webb founded this company on July 14, 2021, when he began as the sole driver.
He now employs 16 drivers and has over 670 five-star reviews on Google. Kola Kruze has gone from generating $5,000 in profits during its first year in business, to about $75,000 in the most recent school year.
Following these successes, Webb is now taking his business to the next level with a new rideshare app, called “Kruze,” coming out in May, which will enable him to connect his company to an even larger customer base than his website could before.
“I can only imagine when the app comes out, we’ll probably quadruple those numbers," Webb said.
As of now, about 75 percent of Kola Kruze riders are students using the website for long distance trips to the airport. Rides are typically scheduled through the website ahead of time, therefore short distance rides after a night out are less popular.
Webb’s app will change this, he said, making instant ride scheduling easier and expanding the customer base beyond just students. However, Webb said he will remain committed to students by implementing a student discount verified by their student ID and email, as he wants his app to be cheaper for students.
The Kruze app will include a new facial recognition feature, which will aim to ensure students and drivers feel safe and can verify each other's identity. This feature will compare a scan of the individual’s face to an uploaded photo of their ID.
Riders will also be able to request the gender of their driver in the app. This is especially important to USC parent Daniela Tesoriero, who has ridden Kola Kruze with her freshman daughter.
“I love that he was asking us feedback, what would we want as parents to be on that app,” Tesoriero said. “There should be an option to have a female driver … I get nervous; these girls are wearing cutesy outfits going out to bars.”
Rideshare safety has been a predominant concern for students and parents in the Columbia community since the murder of USC student Samantha Josephson in 2019 after she was kidnapped in Five Points after getting into a car she believed to be her Uber, said Webb. As a USC student at the time, Webb considers safety Kola Kruze's core mission.
“I kind of realized that what happened with Samantha, it could be a way for me to honor her and allow her legacy to live on too,” Webb said.
Webb currently completes extensive hiring interviews, sets up vehicle cameras and runs drivers through SLED checks, National Sex Offender lists and Motor Vehicle Records to ensure rider safety.
Josephson’s mother reached out to Webb after Kola Kruze's initial founding to thank him for keeping the Columbia community safe.
“That was probably like the most rewarding thing, because I never, I never fathomed that, or imagined that she would ever, out of all people, she would reach out to me,” Webb said.
Recently, Webb told her about the new app coming out and encouraged her to share her thoughts on potential improvements. He also welcomes feedback from his drivers. Fourth-year public health student Eden Frick has been driving for Kola Kruze's website platform for over a year and admires Webb’s work ethic and leadership style.
“I feel like he does a really great job too, because he’s always trying to get the input of drivers on the app,” Frick said. “He's put a lot of his own time and money into everything. And sometimes he’ll give up his own rides for drivers to make money instead of himself.”
One aspect which Webb said he prides himself on is his integrity. Kruze will take a different approach with his app than other rideshare platforms when it comes to the way he cares for his drivers and the standards to which he holds his company.
“I have a rule that no person is left behind. So I know that other companies, they cancel rides, they leave people at the airport, and with us, we don't. We don't leave anybody behind. I don't care if it's two o'clock in the morning, three o'clock in the morning, we're not leaving anyone behind,” Webb said.
Although the app is the company’s newest exciting development, Webb does not plan to stop there. In the next two years, he hopes to expand the Kruze app to other SEC schools including Georgia, Kentucky, Auburn and Texas in hopes of becoming a staple across the Southeast.
“I kind of feel like sometimes in business and in life, we're afraid of growth and we're afraid of the potential that we all have. And I think we kind of run away from it, and we never grow into the people we're supposed to be because some of us are really afraid of success,” Webb said.
Webb said he has no regrets about the journey that has led him to where he is today. He attributes his successes to his persevering faith, which strengthens him to make the hard decisions that lead to great accomplishments. Kruze is just the start.