Meet Revathi Roy, from taxi driver to serial entrepreneur. Taxi driver-turned-serial entrepreneur Revathi Roy is skilling women to become last-mile delivery associates and, more importantly, self-reliant. Here’s what our Forbes listed speaker has to say.
Instead of wallowing in self-pity, Revathi Roy picked up the pieces of her broken life and turned her passion into a business . Today, at 57, Roy is CEO of India’s first all-female hyperlocal delivery startup Hey Deedee. Incorporated as Zaffiro Learning, she set it up a year ago along with financial investor Jagdish Gothi of Kamdhenu stores. Hey Deedee mobilises women from low-income communities, trains them to drive two-wheelers and has them undertake last-mile delivery for companies like Amazon, Pizza Hut, Subway and logistics provider Shadowfax among others. “The ecommerce sector in India is set to explode. Our entire business model is based on fulfilling their logistical needs,” Roy says. That’s not all. Her business hinges on the empowerment of women. “The ladies we train come from backgrounds where everyday is a fight for survival. I want to empower them with a skill so that they can become financially independent and earn respect. If I could do it, so can they,” she says.
