Women in Mobility - MOWO

Women all over India face restrictions on their mobility and occupy public spaces much lesser. While cultural restrictions are a big contributor, the ever-present lack of safety is another factor. Many women in India refrain from pursuing their dream careers as commute becomes a major challenge.

By training women to ride 2/3 wheelers and creating an online platform for them to connect, we can encourage women to learn to ride safely and also pick up livelihood opportunities in mobility sector.We liaise with organisations to create more employment opportunities for women in mobility and work on policy advocacy which will eventually lead to more women occupying our roads. 

As this article on UN-Habitat rightly states – “Creating safety involves much more than just responding to violence. It is important to create the conditions by which women are able to move about safely and without fear of violence or assault.”

India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. With increasing number of global brands starting operations in the country, there has been a significant rise in the number of people migrating to urban areas for employment. As urban poor sees an unprecedented rise, there is a significant leap in employment opportunities in transport and mobility sector. However, as is the case with most industries, this sector employs only a marginal number of women not even accounting to 1% of the jobs. 

Most than 50% women in India refrain from pursuing better careers as commute becomes a major challenge. This not only affects the personal and professional growth of the woman, but also adversely impacts the economy on a broader scale. 

Challenges faced by women:

• Lack of proper resources for non traditional livelihood options.
• Exclusive driving centres for women.
• Road Safety Awareness 
• Lack of experience in mobility sector.
• Women/girls refrain from pursuing careers as commuting becomes a challenge.
• Safety not only at the workplace but also during the commute to & fro from the workplace.

In order to improve the new age women mobility & financial independence, we at MOWO work with mobility as our tool :

1.Two-Wheeler and Three-Wheeler Training Programmes

We offer 2-4 weeks of training programmes to equip women in two/ three-wheeler driving skills. Knowing that not all women will have access to vehicles, we have a fleet of geared & non-geared vehicles which we utilise for training. Keeping in mind the comfort of the training batches, our training team comprises exclusively of women which removes further barriers to learning.Provide extended assistance in getting them driving licenses. We wish to create more women leaders, so, we train some of the graduates to become instructors as well.

2.Employment Training

We also provide soft skills and employment training. Based on individual interest, we work with them to prepare them for working life, with our road readiness programme. 

 3.Creating Jobs

Our team liaises  with delivery and logistic services companies to assist in placing our training graduates in jobs that suit their requirement. 

Based on their feedback, we reach out to the employer with recommendations for changes to the job contract if needed. This helps in creating a better working environment  for women in long run.

While employment opportunities have grown by leaps and bounds in every part of our Globe, commuting to and from the workplace has become a major challenge for many women in India.We work with the Under Privileged Women from the age groups of 18-58 years of the lower strata of the Society and empower them through mobility.

Many young girls above 18 years  in their graduation and those who are already working ,travel through the urban & rural areas, raising the need to provide a safer and reliable option for them to travel carefree.

Another set are the women working in informal sectors, the ones who are Vegetable Vendors / Hawkers, Small Shop Owners, Tailors, Fruit Sellers, Fish & Chicken Mart Owners, etc. Most of them wouldn’t even have been to high school and left out in learning opportunities.By teaching them to ride, we not only increase their potential to do more but also give them necessary road safety sessions.

We bring them under One Umbrella to make them understand the they will be taken care of through the Mobility. This Mobility Training will empower them to lead their lives independently, driving their own Vehicles to their respective places of work.

We work around Women’s Mobility, training the girls & women in riding  2/3 wheelers.

We addresses this, through Driving Sessions by women instructors, Road Rules & Safety Measures plus occupying roads more & more to secure their stand. This further, empowers Women to a stage that they are able to run their own lives.

The Target Population are the young girls pursuing their graduation & early careers and Women who are Vegetable Vendors / Hawkers, Small Shop Owners, Tailors, Fruit Sellers, Fish & Chicken Mart Owners, etc., who get benefited by our  training session exclusively for women and by women.

Currently there are no organisations working on the similar lines in India which work as an umbrella for training the women and then providing suitable placements.Training modules with women trainers is an added advantage. When it comes to the community app, though there are many online communities for women in the urban areas, most of them cater to the educated and working professionals.Very few community platforms are made specific to women in mobility coming from less literate backgrounds.

While there are some indirect competitors, most of them focus on one vertical of delivery logistics.Training, road readiness and hand holding them to get the required licenses is a great value proposition in a country like India where there are no formal 2/3 wheeler training institutes exclusively for women.

All ready existing partnerships with local government bodies and NGOs working in women empowerment, mark a unique positioning in the industry.

In this new age of technology driven solutions to every process, mobility has its own niche segment.

While most of our trainings are manual, we depend on digital literacy to empower our women to learn and practise driving tests online.For most of the women we interact with, just touching a computer will be the first time.We use simulators to create virtual road scenarios for our road readiness programs.For a larger impact, we depend largely on social media.Once we develop an online community, the website itself will be one of our major revenue generating technology.

Through our livelihood programs, we teach women to access and operate the mobile applications for delivery jobs.This would be a great skill and once they understand the nuances of using these simple mobile applications, we will see a spurge of women micro entrepreneurs in mobility sector.An insight to basic algorithms helps them to streamline their jobs and encourage them to be more productive.

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/travel-logistics-and-transport-infrastructure/our-insights/technology-delivered-implications-for-cost-customers-and-competition-in-the-last-mile-ecosystem#

With MOWO, we wanted to work towards making our roads an equal space for women. As this article on UN-Habitat rightly states – “Creating safety involves much more than just responding to violence. It is important to create the conditions by which women are able to move about safely and without fear of violence or assault.”

Situational Experiences:

1.“My workplace is 26kms from my home. I spend close to one and a half hours  to reach office amidst peak hour traffic by road. The nearest metro station to my home is about 3 k.m and to my office is again another 6.5 k.m. Sharing transportation comes with a fear of sitting with strangers. Becoming self dependent or looking for autos run by women are the only option for me.”

- Malathi, Working with an MNC.

2.“My workplace is 26kms from my home. I spend close to one and a half hours  to reach office amidst peak hour traffic by road. The nearest metro station to my home is about 3 k.m and to my office is again another 6.5 k.m. Sharing transportation comes with a fear of sitting with strangers. Becoming self dependent or looking for autos run by women are the only option for me.”

- Malathi, Working with an MNC.

3.“ I wasn’t good at studies , but was always a street smart girl right from my childhood. Whenever I see  Amazon/UBER/OLA/Swiggy/CallHealth drivers, I always felt that I can be one of them. We are four girls in the family and my father is always worried about our safety. Asking him to teach me how to ride a two wheeler or a three wheeler is almost equal to a crime. Though I know being a chauffeur would be an apt job for me, with no brothers or male friends who can teach me how to ride.

- Sapna, Looking for non traditional employment opportunities.

As we just completed our first year, I am thrilled to have reached many milestones right from securing land for a training facility to collaborating with government colleges, self-help groups, and logistic companies. Parallelly with a team of 4 full-time and 4 part-time employees, we could reach out to more than 1200 young women through our outreach programs on the importance of safe riding practices. This will also aid in the overall safety of women, the one big battle we are all facing right now. With the limited facilities and bootstrapped funds, we trained more than 200 women to ride two-wheelers and encouraged them to secure driving licenses.

In the second year we look forward to reach out and train 2500 girls/women to ride two & three wheelers and assist them in relevant livelihood opportunities.

In 5 years, we would like to build an exclusive two/three wheeler training centre for women and empower 25000 girls/women through mobility.

Future Road Map :

1. To train 2500 girls/women annually to ride two & three wheelers.

2. Encourage women to pick up livelihood opportunities in mobility sector.

3.Develop a community app, which acts as an umbrella for connecting our women across the state including rural areas and maximising their employment opportunities.

4.Form strategic partnership and alliances with other public and private organisations to support our vision and mission and generate employments opportunities for women in last mile connectivity.

5.Partner with colleges, NGOs, women welfare centers for active participation and larger impact.

6. Build a  ’Training Centre’ exclusively for women, providing all of the following under one roof: 

• Two & three wheeler driving sessions on dedicated track
• Technical skills required to operate electric motor vehicles.
• Soft skills training for employability
• Act as a women employment bureau: Place for collecting industry requirements for future employments & opportunities for women
• A community space for women to interact and strengthen the bonds .

7. After 3 years, expand our operations in other majors cities across the country.

8.By the end of 5 years, rise to an institutional level where women in mobility will be norm.

Challenges to accomplish our five year goals:

• Capital Expenditure to set up the centre - INR 70,000,00/-( direct or through partners )
• Operational Expenses for the first two years until the centre becomes self sustainable - INR 92,600,00/-( direct or through partners)
• Electric & Non Electric two & three wheelers. ( One time purchase )
• Volunteer in our activities
• Employment Opportunities to generate revenue

Culturally, its a big taboo for women in India to work to ride 2/3 wheels and also work as delivery partners. Most of our sessions are hence focussed on breaking this taboo.60% of our efforts go into this rather than direct training on two wheelers. 

Since its niche process, no direct support networks are currently available in our region.This further reduces our capacity for immediate impact. 

We are continuously steering our efforts towards collaborations and support to maximise our impact in the next five years.

Pitching to raise funds for capital expenditure from private organisations.

Applying for varies grants and funds both through public and private organisations.

Collaborating with automobile companies to help us with the supply of vehicles for training.

Encouraging the women whom we have trained, to join us back as instructors and volunteers.

Conducting awareness sessions for women in mobility to break the cultural taboo.

Sensatising the men who are already in mobility sector to encourage their women to join them in this sector.

Collaborating with organisations in last mile connectivity to draft women specific policies.

Policy advocacy to bring this change through the local governing bodies.

https://youtu.be/7k9sXcs2fT4

Currently we are operating with a small team of four full-time staff on our payrolls.

Four part time trainers.

Apart from in-house staff, we also rely on two part-time consultants for our digital media.

Jai Bharathi - Founder

As an avid motorcyclist, Jai Bharathi has experienced immense freedom and joy owing to her passion for motorcycles and travel. She was conferred the “Vishishta Mahila Puraskaram” under the Adventure category by the Department of Women & Child Welfare, Govt. Of Telangana in 2019 and several other leadership awards.

Leading  Bikerni Hyderabad, a regional chapter of ‘The Bikerni’ an all-women motorcycle club since its inception in 2013, she has led multiple motorcycle expeditions within India, a cross-country expedition across six nations in South East Asia covering 17000 km, and 17380 km Wheels of Will expedition across the USA in 35 days. She has also authored a book (in English and Telugu) on organising & leading the first of its kind all women cross country motorcycle expedition. 700 of these books were distributed across colleges for women in Telangana, to inspire more women to take on to two wheels. 

Her efforts in the field of motorcycling have been appreciated by our Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi & the Chief Minister of Telangana Mr. K. Chandrasekhar Rao. Professionally an architect, Jai Bharathi has also worked with several nonprofit organisations in the space of economic empowerment of women, education for children, solar lighting, and has also been active in relief work during natural calamities. 

The rest of the team constitute, program directors with 12 years experience and well trained instructors.

We signed an MoU with the civic body GHMC for providing land to set up MOWO’s first exclusive motor training facility for women. 

Uber Eats joined a unique partnership with MOWO exclusively to hire our women graduates as delivery partners. This partnership also offers flexible working hours to keep the job accessible to women. 

ETO Motors have signed up with us to train and deploy women, auto pilots, for their e-Autos.  We are currently working together to develop training modules and procedures to secure the required statutory permissions and driving licenses.

Signed up a partnership with Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited to deploy women electric drivers at metros stations for last mile connectivity.

Partnered with government, social and tribal welfare colleges to offer free two wheeler training for young girls from lower income groups.

Partnered with self help groups  and local NGO’s to train the lower income group women to ride two/three wheelers for better livelihoods.

https://drive.google.com/file/...  

As a social enterprise we can apply for grants and also conduct commercial training sessions. 

Our Revenue Model:

• At least 20% paid sessions annually
  
• Funds/Grants from governement and private organisations
  
• Revenues from the community application
  
• Fundraising campaings 
  
• Awareness Sessions - Paid
  
• Charity events
  
• Raising Investment capitals
• Applying for innovation awards
• Selling books
• Capital Investments from foundations working women empowerment & livelihoods
• Employee referral benefits

While we dream towards social transformation of moving women through mobility, collaborating and getting supported by organisations like Solve will give us an opportunity to maximise our impact.We believe, with a larger community support we can,

1.Access to mentor sessions, peer community & industry connections.

2.Deeper understanding of scaling up our business model for a larger impact.

3.Access to funding and collaborations.

4.Global perceptions of women in mobility.

Working through the pilot and then successfully completing one year of our organisation, we realised our short comings in the arena of funding and market reach.

Having partners who can support us in funding and revenue models will help us in focusing on our strengths and continue our operations.

In todays world of everything on sale, marketing and social media presence is a key factor to maximise our impact.Hence we are looking for help in this sector to hone our skills in the same.

Collaboration is the key to global impact and we look forward to partner with :

1.Automobile Companies - To support us with vehicles for training

2.Governament self-help groups : To empower them through mobility

3. Existing NGO''s working in skill development for girls & women.

4. Private Organisations who can fund our campaigns

5. Organisations who can help us in marketing and spreading the word.

As our core model is to support vulnerable girls and women in lower income groups, where we engage them with learning skill in mobility, we can consider qualified for The GM Prize on Learning for Girls and Women.If granted, we will use this to encourage more women in mobility.

In todays world of rapid development, adults face a great challenge in updating with newer skills to stay employed.Adult women especially from the lower income groups income regions India are void of digital literacy.We can train the adults to use simple mobile technologies and become delivery partners to earn decent livelihoods.

If granted, we will use the funds to train more adult women to take up jobs in mobility.