Right off the bat, what we like about Foliyoo, the transport logistic start-up, is that though it offers a solution that others in the market are offering — like vehicles to transport material from one destination to another — what it is doing differently is it focuses on the drivers too instead of taking a completely customer-centric approach alone. How are they achieving this? Any driver who uses this portal gets to decides what they would like to be paid for a particular booking. How this works is that when a customer keys in their location in the app, they see multiple options of drivers offering their best prices. Win-win, you see! Also, knowing that neither customer nor driver might be immediately comfortable with the app, they launched phone services first and are in the process of transitioning completely to the app.
The idea of Foliyoo struck Biswajit Muduli when he started his own plumbing parts shop in Balimela in Malkangiri district of Odisha and realised what a pain it was to transport the material himself. "Not just this, when I inquired after the drivers to learn more about their lifestyle, they said that they don't even know where they are going to sleep or what they are going to eat," explains the 29-year-old. Thus, he registered the start-up in 2018.
After thorough background verification of the drivers, they are brought on board Foliyoo and are guided through operating the app. "But this was a huge problem. Already scared with their experience with other companies, they were very reluctant to sign up with us. There was no way out of this other than to patiently explain to them what we do," says Biswajit who pursued a Diploma in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering at KIIT Polytechnic. The start-up gives drivers guidelines and helps them through anything else they might need to understand. Looks like things went smoothly because before the lockdown, they fulfilled about 600 bookings, which were all made over the phone. On the app, about 150 bookings have been made. They are doing their best to ensure that the app takes precedence soon.
Currently, the start-up operates only in Bhubaneswar, though they have plans to expand in Rourkela and Sambalpur as well. Also, they are aware that they need not be engaged with transporting heavy materials alone, they can help with medicine, documents and other kinds of urgent and important transportation as well. For this, talks are on with another platform. Though they already have their hands full with about 12 bookings a day handled by 200 drivers and 11 team members at the backend, they aspire to bring on board more drivers and expand their reach to other cities as well.
The categories of truck they have:
- Small: One to five ton
- Medium: Five to 15 ton
- Large: 15 to 25 ton
- Extra large: Up to 25 ton
For more on them, check out foliyoo.com
