Mumbai Miracle - Naren Karunakaran ,

Outlook Business Aug 28, 2009

His fluorescent orange uniform makes him stand out in the crowd as he strides past Churchgate
station. A bag slung across his shoulder, he’s oblivious to the noise as he takes care to use the
pavement. He loves this round, which takes him to the top companies in Nariman Point. But, he avoids
using the shortcut through the Oval Maidan. Once, a long time ago, he was hit by a cricket ball while
taking the shortcut. He did not hear the screams or warnings. For, you see, Vinod Jagtap is deaf. One
of the 34 employees of Mirakle Couriers, a firm entirely run and manned by the hearing-impaired.

This courier company has caught the interest of several big Mumbai-based businesses such as
Mahindra and Mahindra, Godrej & Boyce and the Aditya Birla Group. This band is proactively spreading
the word about Mirakle Couriers. They urge city-based industrial houses to support the fledgling
enterprise. And they are going all out to help the company.

For instance, Mirakle has office space bang opposite Churchgate, in the heart of town, thanks to the
Aditya Birla Group. It would have cost Mirakle over Rs 50,000 a month to rent space (250 sq ft) in this
part of the city. Now, it uses the office free of cost.

“It’s critical for a courier company to have a central location,” says Subrato Sarkaar, Vice-President,
Administration, Aditya Birla Group. Before moving to Churchgate, the start-up had found a benefactor in
Thermax, an environmental engineering company. Thermax allowed Mirakle to function from its Colaba
office for a while, on launching its operations in November 2008.

Supplier Diversity

Though all of Mirakle’s employees are deaf, Mirakle has an impeccable service record. “We have
maintained a zero-defect record. No packet has been delivered to a wrong address, so far,” says Dhruv
Lakra, Founder and CEO, Mirakle Couriers.

Lakra, after a short stint as an investment banker in Mumbai, decided his future was not cut out for high
finance but in pounding the streets as a social entrepreneur. An MBA from Oxford, as a Scholl scholar,
prepared him for the role. On his return from Oxford in October 2008, he chanced upon a conversation
between a deaf commuter and a bus conductor. The former’s gesticulations made little sense to either
the conductor or Lakra, but the encounter remained etched on his mind.

A quick bit of research revealed that the hearing impaired was the most ignored of all disabilities; the
most under-funded as well. Lakra decided to be an ambassador for them. “I entered the courier
business as it is manpower-and-volume-driven. It can provide employment to the maximum number of
deaf,” he explains. Lakra started business with just about £300 he had saved from his Oxford
scholarship. He knew it would be a rough ride. But, he didn’t anticipate the tide of support he would
receive from corporates.

These companies were actually putting into practice the tenets of supplier diversity—a term they are
not yet familiar with. It is a mature practice in the US and Europe. Large corporations there seek out
small vendors from the marginalised sections of society, and through a process of handholding ensure
their growth. For instance, Procter & Gamble in the US buys goods and services worth $1.5 billion from
minority- and women-owned businesses every year. The goal is to take this to $2.5 billion by 2010.

Back home, all companies under the Aditya Birla Group spend about Rs 6 crore on courier services
each year. Even a small slice of this—intra-city deliveries to start with—means a lot for a social
enterprise like Mirakle. This is beginning to happen.
Green Shoots?

While Sarkaar is not certain about the concept or the import of supplier diversity, he is certain about
Mirakle’s efficient services. “Their systems are better than that of other professional courier services,”
he says. The Central Mail Receiving and Despatch (CMRD) unit at Godrej & Boyce, which enlisted
Mirakle only last month, has a similar experience. Godrej, after trying out 50 to 100 packets with
Mirakle, wanted to load the courier with higher numbers when the company wanted to dispatch fixed
deposit certificates. Lakra, however, refused. He felt he was not yet ready for an immediate scale up.
“This only proves his commitment to creating a robust business,” says Nariman D Bacha, who presides
over the CMRD at Godrej & Boyce.

Mirakle, within eight months, has endeared itself to the clutch of companies that has dared to
experiment with it. In the process, they have unwittingly set in motion the concept of supplier diversity in
the private sector. JJ Irani, Chairman of the CII Council on Affirmative Action, has already sowed the
seeds of supplier diversity within the Tata Group companies.

“What we need is soft support from corporates,” says Lakra. He expects no other concession from
clients. He competes with mainline courier firms on price, and doesn’t expect business to come as
charity. “When the attitude of charity comes in, mediocrity also seeps in,” he says. So far, Mirakle has
delivered over 10,000 packets. “We have grown from two to 34 employees, without parallel growth in
revenue generation,” he says. He endeavours to set up a training system for his team, all in sign
language.

Lakra has no time to waste. Idea Cellular has asked him whether he can deliver bills to its customers
across Mumbai—the numbers are in tens of thousands. And Lakra’s employees, like Jagtap from
Chembur, are rising to the occasion.

Jagtap is also one of Mirakle’s star performers. As a window cleaner, he earned a pittance. The bright
orange uniform of Mirakle and a monthly pay of Rs 3,000 plus incentives have lent him a new
confidence and dignity. Jagtap is also courting a girl in his neighbourhood. “I will marry her when I save
enough for my wedding,” he gesticulates with a blush.

He’s sure of one thing—the venue will not be anywhere near the Azad Maidan.