Hey Deedee® Forays into an All-Women Cargo Logistics

by Suman Gupta

for the first time in India to do last mile and mid mile deliveries

The first set of five women drivers of the four-wheeler cargo vehicles flagged off by well-known women personalities

Mumbai: Hey Deedee®, India’s only all-women last mile logistic services company announced its foray into an all-women cargo logistics for the first time in India to do last mile and mid mile deliveries. Hey Deedee® has taken a step towards entering the bulk and bigger parcels delivery and mid mile delivery segment by adding their Hey Deedee® women drivers towards the cargo services. The company has been growing by leaps and bounds providing solution to the e-commerce companies for their last mile delivery. Recently, Hey Deedee successfully raised pre-seed funding of $ 500,000 from Metaform Ventures LLC of an undisclosed sum of valuation. The funds are going to be utilized for expansion of footprint, further gaining bandwidth and build technology. They intend to grow from current four cities to 10 cities in this calendar year 2018 and launch their four-wheeler warehouse to hub deliveries with an all women drivers team.

Ms. Revathi Roy, Serial Entrepreneur, Pioneer of Asia’s 1st Taxi service for women and Co-Founder of Hey Deedee® said, “At the end of 2017, the logistics market in India was valued at 160 billion USD. According to the Economic Survey 2017-18 tabled in the Parliament, with the implementation of GST, the Indian logistics market is expected to reach about USD 215 billion in 2020 growing at a CAGR of 10.5 per cent. Despite the fact that the logistics industry is a growing one and has opportunities for advancement, the glass ceiling for women is yet to be broken. Female representation in this industry is abysmal, being less than 5%. The demand for qualified personnel exceeds the supply in the logistics and supply chain sector and it has become imperative to attract and include women, especially since they are good in multitasking, an ability that enables them to handle a myriad of tasks such as planning, implementing and controlling the efficient flow and storage of goods. Research has also shown that the presence of women raises the standards of ethical behavior, lower corruption, production and economic growth. Recognizing this untouched potential and hoping to capture 20% of the market share by 2020 and increase the number of women in the workforce, Hey Deedee® is launching its four-wheeler cargo service. We are seeking to change the way India delivers.”

The occasion was graced by Dr. Sonia Sethi, IAS – Ex Transport Commissioner (Govt of Maharashtra), Mrs. Shweta Shalini, Spokesperson, CM office, Ms. Avani Davda, CEO, Godrej Nature’s Basket and Ms. Sapna Bhavnani, famous hair stylist, Mad-O-Wat. The first five women drivers of the four-wheeler cargo vehicles were flagged off by the dignitaries.

To ensure that the women drivers are ready, women undergo an extensive 60-day training. By building and engaging a community of trained and certified women riders and drivers, the desired goal of this intervention is to positively impact the employability of women in relatively high paying services, the safety of women customers when using transport other than their own; working in alignment with our PM’s vision of transforming India into a safe haven for women, and also road safety in India. With a mission to train and employ 10,000 women by 2018, Hey Deedee aims to become the largest solution provider for hyperlocals and offers last mile delivery services within the city through its hub and spoke model.

Dr. Sonia Sethi, IAS – Ex Transport Commissioner (Govt of Maharashtra) said, “We need women at all levels contributing to change the dynamics on reshaping of our economy. An empowered woman is powerful beyond measure and capable beyond description. I chose to back Revathi Roy for her enduring ledership on empowering women in logistics, a fast growing, untapped (women powered) sector with much needed diversity. HeyDeeDee continues to break down walls and defy stereotypes; creating a sector for women empowered logistics, not just logistics but heavy logistics.” Hey Deedee® is an all women logistics firm based in India. It provides a platform to mobilize, assess and train women to become riders and drivers and gain employability. It is India′s first all–women instant parcel delivery service and cargo service. The all–women fleet is a group specially trained by Hey Deedee® (a unit of Zaffiro Learning Pvt Ltd [ZLPL]), which aims to empower underprivileged women by skilling them in two-wheeler or four-wheeler riding or driving and soft skills and guaranteeing them a job on its Hey Deedee® platform. All these women belong to families, which are below the poverty line that earn only Rs 1 lakh, annually. Empowering the women by employing them, doubles the entire family’s yearly income and removes the unfortunate ‘below poverty line’ stigma. Hey Deedee® also aims to provide employers with quick and efficient access to well trained and dependable delivery agents.

 Ms. Roy further added that, “With a mission to train and employ 10,000 women by 2020, Hey Deedee aims to become the largest solution provider for hyperlocals by offering last mile delivery services and parcel movement within the city through its hub and spoke model. Hey Deedee® hinges on the empowerment of women. The ladies come from economically challenged backgrounds where Hey Deedee® empowers them with a skill so that they can become financially independent and earn respect. Assistance is also provided to them for procurement of loan to purchase the vehicles which offers them skilling and sustainable livelihood. The USP of Hey Deedee is the buildup of the pool of human resources to do this job by skilling the girls in a 30—45 day program. It is also solving a huge problem of urban women unemployment. We currently have 2000+ women registered, all under different stages of training, and have 62 riders on the job, in Mumbai, Bangalore, Nagpur and Pune. We currently take both a per delivery model (with Amazon) and a management percentage model (with E-comm Express) and fixed income model in the current growth stage.”

Hey Deedee® delivered record 250,000 parcels till date for alliance partners Amazon, The Curry Brothers, The Bohri Kitchen, Subway, Herbivore, Shophop, Brijwasi, Pizza Hut, Ecomm Express, Ziptown, Spicebox, Everyday Gourmet kitchen, Pitaburg, Birdy’s, Snackboxwallah, Godrej Nature’s Basket, Fresh India Organics. Some of the past clients include Pizza Hut, Subway, Heribvore, ZipTown, Brijwasi, ShopHop and thousands of retail customers.