Pioneer Of Asia’s 1st Women’s Taxi Service Gets Recognition Through Niti Aayog

In the “Women Transforming India” initiative conceptualized by NITI Aayog, Revathi Roy, CEO, HeyDidi and founded Zaffiro Learning, won the award for pioneering Asia’s first ever women’s taxi service FORSCHE in 2007. The felicitation was done under the leadership of the Hon. Prime Minister. The primary aim of this initiative was to make heard lesser-known stories that celebrate the

indomitable spirit of women who have made a difference. The contest was launched to mark the celebration of International Women’s Day, 2016. Citizens were invited to nominate inspiring success stories of women change-makers, in the form of essays.

Revathi, who is an established social entrepreneur, has persisted in this sector and in the field of women’s empowerment for close to a decade and is currently expanding the skilling women for employability business into the logistics sector. Being an established entrepreneur, she has trained more than a thousand girls to drive cars with the aim of taking up commercial driving as a profession, thereby making travel for women travelers’ safe, even at night.  Her institute, Zaffiro Learning(a skill development training institute for women launched in March), has since been empanelled as a VTP with Maharashtra State Skill Development Society (MSSDS) and hence will be a part of the skill development initiatives set up by the state.

Tapping into the large untapped resource of hardworking, but uneducated and under-utilized urban poor women, Revathi wants to elevate their status and give them access to into a predominantly male domain. She seeks to financially empower girls from BPL families to own their own vehicle and earn income through delivery services, in tandem with the growing e-commerce space and its demand for effective logistics.

Skill development and provision of tools without a platform in which one can earn a steady income is impractical. This initiative is a holistic measure of female labour force generation and empowerment, in a country where urban female work force is less than 12%. India can boost its GDP by 60% by 2025 simply by enabling women to participate in the economy at the same rate as men do.

 Pioneer Of Asia’s 1st Women’s Taxi Service Gets Recognition Through Niti Aayog