How time flies! I’m more than half-way done with my VilCap internship in Mumbai and I’m excited to report that I’ve made considerable progress. My main mandate for the summer was to generate a pipeline of interested social enterprises that fit our upcoming VilCap business accelerator programs. Despite this extremely broad and challenging goal, I have fully embraced my entrepreneurial spirit by speaking with more than 100 people, 75% of those are entrepreneurs while the others are associated with institutions supporting entrepreneurs like incubators.
The sector focus for the entrepreneurs I’ve spoken to range from energy access and education to health and handicrafts. Each one of them has no shortage of passion and dedication to advance their enterprise while positively impacting millions. Supporting these entrepreneurs is why I am pursuing a career in impact investing in emerging markets.
Every entrepreneur is amazing in his or her own right so I have decided to showcase a few social entrepreneurs for my remaining blog posts. The first entrepreneur is Tanvi Surti with Chachii.
What is Chachii?Chachii is a SMS and online-based platform that connects laborers such as maids and drivers to people who need short-term, temporary help. Tanvi Surti, a recent graduate at Bryn Mawr College, is one of the co-founders of Chachii. After completing college, she decided to move back to India to start Chachii in Mumbai, India.
How does Chachii work? Individuals post tasks online or by phone and Chachii selects a laborer that can complete the task. After receiving information about the laborer, the individual sits back while his or her task is completed. After the task is completed, the laborer pays the pre-determined amount (no haggling!) to the individual while Chachii takes a small cut of the payment. Although e-commerce is still fairly new in India, Chachii is paving the way by encouraging online transactions and payments with online pre-paid credits.
Why is Chachii important? In Mumbai and across India, hiring help like a driver for your car and a maid for your flat is extremely common especially for people in the middle class and higher. Given that Mumbaikars are more liberal and progressive, more bachelor(ette)s in Mumbai live on their own compared to those in other more traditional cities. Although hiring a driver or maid is still common for these customers, they usually cannot afford a full-time driver or live-in maid. Hiring short-term, temporary help is much more appealing. Finding good-quality, reliable, and trustworthy help is difficult though as most people use personal networks and references. Much like Angie’s List and Task Rabbit based in the states, Chachii fills this gap by connecting laborers while encouraging customer feedback to increase transparency and drive repeat users.
What is Chachii’s impact on society? In India, most laborers come from lower-income groups usually those at the upper edge of the Base of the Pyramid. Chachii connects people from these groups as well as college students looking for extra income. By joining the Chachii network, laborers have the potential to make a sizable monthly income in addition to their full-time work.
What is Chachii’s vision? Besides expanding the range of services offered, Chachii hopes to expand to all major metropolitan cities in India and reach an estimated 60 million laborers in the unskilled and informal labor market across India. With its current focus on Mumbai, the most populous city in India, Chachii has its work cut out for them!
