Riding with Obama

Bihari entrepreneur, who met the US President in Mumbai, wants the latter to travel in his rickshaw

They met for the first time at the Entrepreneurship Summit in Washington DC this April. They came together again on Saturday in Mumbai. But 28-year-old Irfan Alam can't have enough of Barack Obama. And the fortune-hunter from Patna has a unique proposition for, arguably, the most powerful man in the world.



"I want to ride a rickshaw along with Obama. I also want Obama to become the brand ambassador for this green transport," Irfan, chairman of Sammaan Foundation, which works for socio-economic uplift of rickshaw-pullers and their families, told MiD DAY.

Irfan, who has made a roaring success of his unique grassroots initiative that streamlines the workings of rickshaw-pullers in India by bringing them under the umbrella of his firm, was part of the first business delegation that met US President at Hotel Trident in Mumbai on Saturday.

Obama was not behind in appreciating Irfan's efforts, who has been working to generate employment opportunity for illiterate and unskilled people. "Obama too is interested in generating more and more job opportunities and more than that he wishes to encourage entrepreneurship.

Obama had assured me the last time that the US will support any move that helps in generating more entrepreneurs. I had taken forward his initiative and with the consultation of the US, we have set up an organisation - Center for Entrepreneurship Excellence - which will work to produce more and more entrepreneurs in India and even outside," said Irfan, a graduate from Bihar's Begusarai district and MBA from the prestigious IIM-Ahmedabad.

Irfan also gifted a miniature of the lightest rickshaw in India to Obama. "We have manufactured the lightest rickshaw of the country. It took the team of 14-15 people about three and half months to produce it. The initiative took more than Rs 2 lakh and sponsored by Lifebuoy," said Irfan, who had a brief meeting with Obama at Hotel Trident in Mumbai.

While the weight of a regular rickshaw is about 125 kg, this one weighs 75 kg and has good road balancing. Also, the rickshaw has fibreglass body, is easy to ride and is more spacious for passengers as well as for storing luggage.

Wheels of change
Irfan started off with 100 such rickshaws in 2007. He started his organisation, Sammaan, in 2008 and came up with the idea of equipping rickshaws with music, magazines, newspaper, first-aid kits, refreshments and advertisements, to help rickshaw-pullers. Currently, Sammaan has 10 million rickshaw pullers under its operations, across a swathe of Indian cities. The venture has helped modernize the cycle rickshaw sector which constitutes a sizeable 30 per cent of India's urban transportation.

"The biggest challenge of my venture was to convert a huge base of cycle rickshaws into an interactive out-of-home advertising medium and a marketing engine-cum-transaction point," says Alam. He has also gleaned a cachet of awards from the Indian government and media channels for his unique business.

"Everybody talks of corporate social responsibility but not of corporate social sustainability. So I tried cobbling together a business model that was workable and sustainable."