While women taxi drivers are a rare sight on our city roads, PickMe, Sri Lanka’s latest solution to hailing taxis through one’s mobile device, has taken the initiative to create job opportunities for women in this novel area. Whilst more and more women are beginning to get interested in the profession based on the inquires received by PickMe, the Company has managed to engage the services of approximately 12 – 15 women drivers who mostly drive mini cars or Sedans.

However, 33-year-old Lasanda Deepthi, proud driver of a tuk-tuk, is an exception to this rule. A mother with one school-going child, Deepthi has found that PickMe provides her with the ideal opportunity to make a living whilst multi tasking as a mother and housewife.

“I have enough time to drop my daughter at school and ferry her to her respective classes; and I run hires in my three-wheeler during my spare time and so I can make some money on the side to make ends meet.”

Whilst there is some stigma attached to women taxi drivers, particularly due to the fact that they are exposed to various situations and dangers when driving alone and picking up passengers, the PickMe system offers them a certain security which would help overcome this. This was hitherto unavailable to women who might have aspired to this profession, and with such measures in place, PickMe hopes to make a significant increase in their growing number of women drivers.

PickMe ensures a level of accountability for their drivers as well as their passengers through a system where both parties are clearly identifiable since their relevant profiles can be viewed by the PickMe Center, or in passenger’s case, even by a family member through ETA sharing. As for drivers, they are picking up a passenger whose details are officially recorded in the system through their mobile phones ¬ — unlike picking up a random person off the streets whose profile is unknown. This creates a level of accountability, for both passenger and driver.

“Initially, I worried about the security aspect in this particular job, but my fears were soon allayed when we went for the training program PickMe insists on. They explained to us clearly, the way they operate and how the passengers’ profiles are registered with them. Apart from that, the PickMe app has a source button which can be used during an emergency to contact and get help from the nearest police station or the dispatch center.”

Deepthi says she is able to ensure a good balance between work and home. The eight hours she is required to work as a PickMe driver, does not have a specific time frame, so she is able to choose when she wishes to come online. This gives her the opportunity to attend to her daughter’s needs, which, as a mother, she considers very important. Being a very enterprising lady, she also makes ladies’ shoes, a venture she is able handle as she is able to plan her day properly with the flexi work hours PickMe enables.

“Even though I have been very busy with my daughter’s work, I am able to manage all the home affairs as well as set aside time for the committees that I am on, such as the Women’s Society. If I am behind by a couple of hours during the day on the PickMe schedule, I can decide to make up for it in the evening.”

The drivers are provided with a training on etiquette before commencing work as PickMe drivers. Deepthi says that she really valued the lessons she learnt at this training, such as how to play the part of a driver in a manner which is disciplined and respectful. She says they were also give a proper perspective on how to handle issues that might arise related to their work.

“I understood that doing this job with that much discipline gives us a sense of value and that made me want to make certain that I will become the best driver I can be”

Another advantage which PickMe offers, she says, is the rating system which recognizes a driver’s efforts. The app has a feature that allows passengers to indicate their response to the service their driver provides by rating them by giving them as many as five stars. “This encourages us to go above and beyond, to do our best for the passengers” says Deepthi, whose average rating so far is 4.7 of 5.

She also feels empowered because of the difference in the way customers treat her, since as a PickMe driver, she commands respect. “Respect is very important for me and I feel good; especially since I am female driver, the passengers are very understanding and there have even been occasions when they have advised me on safer roads to take when I respond to a hire, which is great. Many of my passengers have told me that it was their first experience with a female three-wheeler driver. Overall I am very happy with the response I have got so far.”

She also says that the respect they receive working for PickMe stems from the high opinion and perception people seem to have of the Company. “I have to date not heard anyone say anything negative about it,” says Deepthi.

Colombo; Backed by an experienced consortium of founders, the recently launched online platform www.crowdisland.lk aims to bring together talented entrepreneurs and quality investors to make crowdfunding a reality for Sri Lankan start-ups and SMEs. Dr. Harsha De Silva, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Sri Lanka, graced the official launch of Crowdisland as the Chief Guest. The key founders of Crowdisland are Jeevan Gnanam, Director – SA Group who kick started Orion City and SAKS with hands on experience investing and mentoring over 15 startups, along with York Street Partners, a boutique investment bank based in Sri Lanka that focuses on M&A, Capital Raising and Strategic Advisory Services and has worked with many leading Sri Lankan companies as well as promising start-ups.

Speaking on the venture, Jeevan Gnanam commented, “Crowdfunding is widely known as the practice of funding projects or ventures by raising small monetary contributions from a large number of people. The concept is a form of alternative finance, which has emerged outside of the traditional financial systems. Sri Lanka is witnessing a strong start-up culture that is sowing the seeds of innovation-driven growth for the future. Crowdisland aims to work with a community of investors who are willing to fund and support this new dawn of creativity and innovation in Sri Lanka, and bring them together with promising entrepreneurs with innovative ideas and concepts. This is a new and exciting investment opportunity not only for high net-worth investors but also more retail-oriented investors. It also provides an impetus for existing entrepreneurs to grow their businesses, and future entrepreneurs to take the plunge.”

Sujendra Mather, Managing Director of York Street Partners (Pvt) Ltd. said, “We aim to start from a slightly limited platform of equity crowdfunding from mainly high net worth investors, and work towards larger scale project crowdfunding that can reach rural entrepreneurs, once the government implements a more supportive regulatory framework. We are currently hampered with old regulations that are prohibitive to crowdfunding. For example, according to the Company’s Act, a private company can only have 50 shareholders, which ideally should be increased. Payment gateways have been hesitant to support us due to their unfamiliarity with the concept. We would also like to see the SEC getting involved and supporting the concept. It is pertinent to note that Crowdisland is neither a deposit-taking institution, a trading house, nor an investment advisor. It is a platform which brings entrepreneurs and investors together, facilitating the development of new ventures. The online platform will not influence either party in any direction, instead being an interface between investors and entrepreneurs, enabling the transfer of ideas, information and capital between them. Successful startups are known to grow as fast as 100% year on year for the first few years, and need investment to fuel this growth. Given the high-risk nature of start-ups, it is essential to spread the risk of one investment across the crowd of investors, and ideally one investor should allocate capital across a portfolio of these early-stage venture investments. The platform is designed to nurture a strong network of peers, mentors and strategic investors to groom Sri Lanka’s next wave of innovators and entrepreneurs.”

The founders of Crowdisland believe the time is right to initiate the crowdfunding concept, as indicated by the increasing number of startups, venture competitions, and SLASSCOM’s target of reaching 1,000 startups by 2020. Banks are traditionally not startup and SME friendly, making it tough for promising business ideas to raise vital seed capital. Crowdisland aims to solve the problem of young businesses struggling to raise early-stage capital for growth, and evolve into successful mid-sized businesses of the future.

Thus, this platform provides a large untapped investment opportunity for savvy investors who would like to diversify their investment portfolio and generate a higher “alpha”. The core team of founders’ combined business and investment experience skills in terms of business strategy, financial analysis, and ongoing mentoring will help nurture the entrepreneurs and their promising ventures. SMEs already account for a significant portion of Sri Lanka’s economic output. Crowdfunding is expected to help grow this important sector further, nurturing young entrepreneurs to give rise to a new wave of businesses to power the economy of the future.