Ola launches ‘Auto Driver Partner Mela’ pan-India; Plans to reach out to over 1,00,000 driver entrepreneurs across 10 cities
Aimed towards Government’s Skill India initiative
- The phenomenal success of the first Auto Driver Partner Mela in Chennai saw significant participation from auto rickshaw driver partners
- Multi-city large scale events planned in major towns across the country throughout 2017
- Strategic partnerships with auto manufacturers, financial institutions, and other service providers to enable huge savings, and provide a one-stop solution for existing and potential driver partners
- Plans to increase auto fleet size to 2,50,000 and expand to 100+ cities by 2018
Bengaluru, April 18, 2017: Ola, India’s most popular mobile app for transportation, today announced plans to reach out to over 1,00,000 driver entrepreneurs through ‘Auto Driver Partner Melas’ across all major cities and towns in India. This follows the success of the first-ever Auto Driver Partner Mela – ‘Ola Baasha Mela’- that was held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The three-day Chennai Mela held between 8th April to 10th April witnessed hundreds and thousands of auto rickshaw driver partners availing the opportunity of becoming micro-entrepreneurs by owning auto rickshaws for the first time. They also benefitted from other value additions such as free vehicle insurance, and garage services, etc., including the unique opportunity to join OLA as a driver partner on the platform.
Ola plans to replicate the grand success of the first Auto Mela by launching similar initiatives across the country. This multi-city program is an on-ground initiative to help thousands of aspiring auto driver partners to take the first step towards entrepreneurship and achieve their dreams. The OLA Auto Mela will bring together a host of manufacturers, service providers, and financial institutions under one roof, to enable deep discounts and savings for their customers and build a large customer-base in return. In addition, this platform is also aimed at improving livelihoods of the driver partners. This mega initiative will kick start from Bengaluru and move to cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Pune over the course of the next few months.
Speaking on the Auto Mela, Vishal Kaul, Chief Operating Officer at Ola said, “We are thrilled with the response and success of the first Auto Driver Partner Mela in Chennai. It reflects the growing need of auto driver partners in the city for a sustainable and quality livelihood which we aim to provide them through such initiatives. Auto has been the most ubiquitous mode of transportation in Indian cities since decades. Ola has brought a convenient hailing experience for users – safer rides, door-step pickup, no hassles of haggling, transparent pricing, and cashless payments, with predictable and continuous demand for OLA’s auto driver partners. As we move towards our mission of building mobility for a billion Indians, we are also creating skilling and entrepreneurial opportunities for several partners through the Ola platform. As one of the world’s ‘youngest’ countries, skilling and livelihood opportunities are crucial to our nation’s development. With a multi-city initiative at such scale, we are enabling access to capital, consistent revenue as well as training for aspiring driver entrepreneurs.”
As a part of the Chennai Mela, several driver partners won free Piaggio Autos, gold coins, and many other goodies including tickets to watch the cult movie of the legend Rajinikanth – Baasha.
Driver partner Melas help Ola nurture micro-entrepreneurship in the ecosystem, creating a steady stream of supply to address the burgeoning mobility needs of India. Over time, Ola has witnessed several partners on the platform turn into large operators, benefitting from access to increased scale and revenue, operating multiple cars/auto rickshaws and employing drivers to run them on the Ola platform. Ola has also partnered with various state governments to skill and train partners, creating entrepreneurship opportunities for hundreds of thousands.
About Ola Auto:
Launched in 2014, Ola has over 1,20,000 auto rickshaws registered on its platform across 73 cities, and plans to launch in more cities in the coming months. The Ola app for auto driver partners is available in English and Indic languages including Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu. Every auto driver partner on the Ola app goes through a KYC verification and training across behavioral, etiquette, and technology to make the ride experience seamless for customers.
About Ola:
Founded in Jan 2011 by IIT Bombay alumni Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, Ola (formerly Olacabs), is India’s most popular mobile app for personal transportation. Ola integrates city transportation for customers and driver partners onto a mobile technology platform ensuring convenient, transparent and quick service fulfilment. Ola is committed to its mission of building mobility for a billion people. Using the Ola mobile app, users across 110 cities can book from over 6,00,000 vehicles across cabs, auto-rickshaws and taxis. Ola has also introduced a range of shared mobility services on its platform like Ola Shuttle and Ola Share for commute and ride-sharing respectively. The app is available on Windows, Android and iOS platforms. Please visit www.olacabs.com and https://www.olacabs.com/media for more information.
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