In these difficult times, a law student from Gujarat has taken up the initiative of delivering essentials to people at their doorsteps. His startup in the form of a mobile application has created a distinctive mark on the people as well as Government agencies in a short span. Here’s the interview of Mr. Divy Shrivastava, the mind behind Fatehpur Delivery app.
Q 1.) Kindly tell our audience about the ‘Fatehpur Delivery App’ and how the idea popped up in your mind?
A 1.) As we all know, the whole country went into a locwkdon because of COVID-19. Fatehpur, being a small district, had no system for online delivery of essentials. This is when the idea popped in our mind; why not make an app for it. This way we could help the society and District Authorities for a better implementation of Lockdown. So Fatehpur Delivery App is made to deliver daily essential items door-to-door for a more effective lockdown.
Q 2.) What are some crucial challenges and gray areas that you need to work on in order to increase the customer base of the app?
A 2.) Actually, COVID-19 situation was a perfect setup for the app to increase its customer base. We took help from the District Authorities for the execution of the app. One challenge was to get almost all good shops in the city registered on our app. We trained few teams of Lokpals for that purpose, and registered over 115 shops in a span of 3 days. One other problem was that Shopkeepers were not technically very sound. We trained and assisted each one of them to make them comfortable with the app. We also made instructional videos for Shopkeepers as well as customers, for better understanding of the app.
Q 3.) What was the feeling when Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant appreciated your efforts on Twitter? How imperative is recognition from the administration to continue execution of your work in these tough times?
A 3.) It was a great feeling. We could not believe that such a small initiative from a small district can catch the attention of the CEO of NITI AAYOG. Actually, a friend sent the screenshot of the tweet to me. We could not believe it for a few moments. We opened twitter to re-check it, and as soon as we saw it, we were on cloud nine.
I thank Mr. Amitabh Kant sir for the recognition. This recognition helps a lot to boost the morale of the team. It generates a sense of achievement, which then pushes oneself to achieve more.
Q 4.) What is the prospective roadmap that the founders of this app have in mind for the post COVID-19 era?
A 4.) We started this app as a social service from our end. We made it free, and no delivery charge was taken from the customer. Our only motive was to make people stay in their homes during this pandemic time. We look at the present situation as an opportunity. You can notice that some of the big companies did a considerable growth in the tough times only, like Alibaba during SARS. After the COVID era, we look forward to penetrate deeply in major areas of North India. We will also introduce the analytics part and provide it to shopkeepers. We are also keeping an eye on Micro loans and wholesale business to integrate in app.
Q 5.) What is your opinion on the paradigm shift of India from conventional selling mechanisms to online delivery apps?
A 5.) During the next few years, India will see the total paradigm shift by these kind of services. Realizing the potential of this untapped market, many players are coming to give a try. Especially Reliance Jiomart. With the huge partnership between Jio and Facebook, we will witness a huge change. Even government has now permitted deliveries by drones. I think we have only seen the tip of the iceberg, future is exciting.