Ola partners with government for socio-economic development of Safai Karamcharis

Ola, the mobile app for transportation services, signed an MoU with National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC) established under the aegis of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The MoU is aimed at socio-economic development of Safai Karamcharis/ Scavengers and their dependents by enabling livelihood opportunities, especially for women beneficiaries identified by NSKFDC. The program will focus on building a sustainable framework by supporting entrepreneurship, skill development training and self-defence courses for women. The Ola–NSKFDC partnership has the potential to generate synergies that will result in a better future for driver entrepreneurs by creating sustainable careers and livelihoods for them, says the company. Thaawarchand Gehlot, Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment said, “We are confident that our partnership with Ola will help us in meeting our objective of social and economic empowerment of women by creating job/self-employment for these women, belonging to the families of Safai Karamcharis. The self defence training taught during the training will instill self-confidence not only among these women drivers, but will also give a sense of security to the riders, particularly those who are traveling at odd hours. This initiative of NSKFDC, serves the twin purpose of security for women and their economic empowerment, which is the top most priority of the government." Ola, as a technology platform will help create opportunities for these trained drivers by giving them access to infrastructure, financing and continuous revenue. Ola aims to add 10,000 driver-partners on its platform over the next five years by mobilising, training and engaging with aspirants through such partnerships. Speaking about the MoU, Deep Singh, Business Head, North, Ola said, “We are extremely proud to partner with NSKFDC and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Through this partnership, we aim to create better livelihood and entrepreneurship opportunities for Safai Karamcharis/ Scavengers and their dependents This initiative is in line with Ola’s mission to up-skill drivers and create an ecosystem that is conducive for them to grow as entrepreneurs.” Deep further added, “Ola has forged a number of partnerships with State Governments and other Government agencies to accomplish a shared vision of creating entrepreneurship opportunities for hundreds of thousands of men and women across the country. This is yet another initiative from Ola towards creating a robust and balanced driver ecosystem; which is vital for our mission of creating mobility for a billion Indians.” Under this MoU, Ola will facilitate driver-partner micro-entrepreneurship opportunities on its platform for those who are identified and trained by NSKFDC. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has been training women as part of its commercial motor driving training programme with self defence skills. Ola will also help these trained women with opportunities like assistance in buying a car directly from manufacturers with the support of financial institutions that it has partnered with as well as placement as private drivers.