Ola to Skill 50-Lakh Driver Entrepreneurs in Next Five Years

Plans to expand to every district in India over the next five years
Believes in building a modern system of mobility for convenient, hassle-free commute

Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO, Ola along with Shri Nitin Gadkari Ji, Hon’ble Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping and Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy ji, Hon’ble Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship at the launch of first dedicated training centre for drivers’ skill building, at Chapra

Chapra, Bihar, October 17, 2016 – Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO, Ola, India’s largest transportation platform, today in the presence of Shri Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Hon’ble Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Shri Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, Hon’ble Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, announced that the company will skill 50-lakh driver entrepreneurs on its platform by 2022. This announcement was made at the launch of India’s first state-of-the-art dedicated training centers for drivers in partnership with Rise India, NSDC and Ola.

The announcement was part of Aggarwal’s address at the inauguration, which saw participation from other important Industry leaders and stakeholders such as Shri Manish Kumar, CEO, NSDC and Shri Ajay Chhangani, CEO, RISE INDIA.

During the event, Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy called out the huge need for drivers in the country, and acknowledged Ola’s efforts in providing employment and entrepreneurship opportunities to thousands of aspiring driver-partners.

Addressing hundreds of thousands of aspiring drivers and other residents of Chapra, Mr. Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO, Ola, said, “Ola is proud to be a part of Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji’s Skill India and Drive India initiatives. We believe that skilling will be a key driver to create sustainable livelihoods for a young India. Our Honourable PM has rightly identified that India has the potential to become the skill capital of the world and Ola strongly believes this view. The mobility sector in the country is seeing phenomenal growth and has the potential to empower aspiring individuals from all walks of life to become micro-entrepreneurs. Ola’s association with this initiative aims to positively impact the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of driver entrepreneurs, to realise our mission of building mobility for a billion Indians.”

Ola shares the Prime Minister’s vision of enabling livelihoods through skills. Skilling and promoting entrepreneurship has been at the centre of its business strategy since inception. Over the last 5 years, Ola has been successful in on-boarding over 5 lakh skilled driver-partners onto its platform. It strongly believes that technology and innovation will be two of the most important enablers that will accelerate the growth of the Industry.

Ola also works closely with multiple state governments create a skilled workforce that has access to lakhs of job opportunities, in addition to its partnership with leading Indian financial institutions and car manufacturers to give them easy access to capital, insurance and vehicles at discounted prices.

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 102 cities can book from over 450,000 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 http://www.olacabs.comand https://www.olacabs.com/media for more information.

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Soumitra Chand | media@olacabs.com | +91 95350 44316