If you suddenly have a craving for homemade thosai and sambar for lunch, or if you have spilled gravy on your pristine white shirt and need a change before the evening cocktails, then Hire1 provides the busy businessman or corporate executive a convenient get-out-of-jail card.  ”These are some of the examples of the services we [...]

The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

Driven, delivered, done and all in a few hours

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Yeshanth Gunewardena (on the motorbike) with Indika Tantrigoda preparing to head for more business and new opportunities.

If you suddenly have a craving for homemade thosai and sambar for lunch, or if you have spilled gravy on your pristine white shirt and need a change before the evening cocktails, then Hire1 provides the busy businessman or corporate executive a convenient get-out-of-jail card.  ”These are some of the examples of the services we have provided to customers,” recounts Yeshanth Gunewardena who along with Indika Tantrigoda founded a stress-free style for users to get the job done and delivered with the minimum of personal fuss.  Having launched only last year, Gunewardena, a Harvard Business School graduate, and Mr. Tantrigoda, a tech-savvy SLIIT Honours Graduate, have already carved out a niche market in Sri Lanka’s courier and logistics space striking a chord with businesses so much so that Hire1 was recognised by Venture Engine as the best start-up in 2016, earlier this month.

“We started with 50 deliveries in our first month but now we have grown 16-fold with more than 800 deliveries per month and with more than 100 businesses on our platform,” says Gunewardena with satisfaction.  ”I believe what has made us quite successful in such a short time is that we allow our customers to focus on their core business. They don’t have to worry about getting a peon to deliver stuff or find a vehicle free to do it.
We do all that offering customers real-time solutions,” he points out.  Hire1 was among the more than 200 entries at this year’s Venture Engine Awards – the fourth – which looks at discovering Sri Lanka’s most creative and innovative start-ups. It won hands down also grabbing the Impact Entrepreneurship Award being dished out for the first time.  The start-up capital was Rs. 30 million provided by initial investors MAS Holdings, McLarens Group and Jeevan Gnanam’s St. Anthony’s Group who knew they were on to a good thing.

Idea came from Indonesian work-stint
Apart from offering a streamlined courier service, the digitally driven logistics platform is empowering businesses by allowing them to connect with customers.  While Tantrigoda provides the technical knowhow which helps keep the wheels of Hire1 up, Mr. Gunewardena is more the salesman and it was while working in Indonesia in 2014 that he saw this opportunity unfold before his eyes.  ”The transport system is very fragmented and very similar to what we have.  Individuals might have a tuk or a lorry and in a small way they did business delivering stuff for others. We saw the opportunity to bring them into a network and connect them with customers,” outlines Gunewardena.  Hire1 signed on a fleet of motorbikes and began by delivering and couriering letters and packages within the greater Colombo area. They put in place an incentive scheme for their riders. Customers were able to track the delivery of their goods on the app on their mobiles.

“We looked at how a few companies like ours in Indonesia, the US, India and Singapore were doing. We made sure we didn’t have to reinvent the wheel,” says Gunewardena.  The signature features of the service won many fans – a business solution which was web-based and could be accessed from your desk as well as billing made to the company. You could pay on delivery or else the cost of each delivery was billed to the company and payment made in total at month’s end.  With the growing penchant for buying online, Hire1 was in the right place at the right time to smoothly service the delivery of goods. A recent promotion on ice cream was a hit with more than 150 orders resulting in hundreds of litres of creamy happiness and indulgence delivered to the doorsteps of customers.  ”Elephant House was promoting a premium brand of ice cream and we helped the brand connect with customers. That was a special assignment. We have also had other ‘specials’ like having to deliver thosai and sambar from home to a customer,” laughs Gunewardena.

Even mobile charges are delivered
But more run-of-the-mill tasks have included delivering mobile and laptop chargers forgetfully left behind at home. Rather than waste time sending the office peon or the driver to collect these items resulting in valuable man-hours being lost in traffic, shrewd businesses are now opting to use Hire1 as an alternate for costs or low.  And unlike other established courier companies where pick-up time is given, which means if you miss it, you will have to wait a whole day to get things done, Hire1 is flexible and available on demand.  ”We are an efficient, reliable same day delivery service through which you can send your documents and packages. We can pick up and deliver within minutes and offer visual tracking along the way.

In this way, businesses can also connect with customers who can have their purchases delivered within hours,” Gunewardena ticks off the plus points. But it has not been all smooth sailing. Change is always met with resistance. One of the biggest issues is changing the mind-set of people according to him. People are used to waiting three to five days for things to be delivered and feel there is some catch in the concept of delivery on the same day.  Then there is the problem of handling the two-sided nature of the business – the bike rider and the customer. One can’t exist without the other. You need riders so that customers can be serviced quickly. But without customers, there is no need to have so many riders on board. A balance must be struck where both parties feel happy.

Booming business
But business is bustling. There are plans to now move into other major cities like Kandy, Galle and Jaffna. Hire1 is now looking at raising its profile.  ”We have so far focused on getting the technological side of the business running smoothly,” says techie Tantrigoda who built the system locally.  ”We haven’t done a lot on marketing ourselves but I guess it is time to raise awareness in our company.”  Having come together through mutual friends, the two founders have hit it off easily turning Hire1 into a must-have application for businesses who want it driven, delivered and done before the sun goes down.

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