A Three Wheeled Revolution
by Irfan Alam
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This is an interview with Irfan Alam, the young social entrepreneur who founded SammaaN Foundation and transformed the lives of India's cycle-rickshaw pullers. The idea struck him at seventeen: while riding a rickshaw he grew thirsty and realised there was a market for selling water in rickshaws. Entrepreneurship, he says, was 'in his blood', he began stock trading at thirteen and started a portfolio-management firm after helping his father's friends recover their losses. In 2006 he won the TV show 'Business Baazigar' with a proposal to organise the rickshaw sector through advertising and by selling water, juice and other products, but he refused the prize money of Rs 150 lakh when the organisers would not let him run it as a not-for-profit venture that provided insurance, ID cards and uniforms to the pullers. As he understood the pullers' plight, most rent their rickshaws and barely earn enough to survive, his idea became a social cause. Founded in 2007 with family funds, SammaaN helps pullers get bank loans to own their rickshaws, provides insurance, ID cards and uniforms, sells advertising space and products (sharing the revenue), and runs free evening classes for their children. Rickshaw pullers' incomes rose 30–40%. Irfan urges young people to consider entrepreneurship as a career and to take calculated risks to achieve their dreams.
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'A Three Wheeled Revolution' is an interview with Irfan Alam, the founder and chairman of SammaaN Foundation, which organised the cycle-rickshaw sector in Bihar and empowered thousands of rickshaw pullers.
The idea and the entrepreneur
The idea came when Irfan, aged seventeen, grew thirsty in a rickshaw and realised there was a market for selling water bottles in rickshaws. He says entrepreneurship is 'in his blood': after the 1992 stock-market scam, he began researching companies, helped his father's friends recover their losses, and started his first portfolio-management firm at thirteen.
Business Baazigar and a turning point
In 2006 he entered the TV show 'Business Baazigar' with a proposal to organise the rickshaw sector, redesigning rickshaws to sell advertising space and products like water, juice and mobile cards. He won the show and was offered seed money of Rs 150 lakh. But he refused it: he wanted to run the venture as a not-for-profit that gave pullers insurance, ID cards and uniforms to earn their loyalty, and the organisers did not agree to this model.
SammaaN, a social venture
As Irfan understood the pullers' plight, most do not own their rickshaws but rent them, barely earning enough to survive, the idea became a social cause. Founded in 2007 with money from family and friends, SammaaN verifies and trains pullers, stands guarantor so banks give them loans to own their rickshaws, and provides accident and health insurance, ID cards and uniforms.
Rickshaws are designed to carry advertisements, whose revenue is split between SammaaN and the pullers; pullers can also sell water, juice and cards for shared profit. Children of the pullers attend free evening classes called 'SammaaN Gyaan'. The pullers' revenues rose 30–40%, and SammaaN itself became profitable.
Advice to the young
Irfan met Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus at the Presidential Entrepreneurship Summit in the USA and was praised by President Obama. His advice to students: an entrepreneur identifies an opportunity and works to make it an enterprise; young people should think of entrepreneurship as a career to tackle unemployment. 'It is important to dream, but it is equally important to take calculated risks to achieve your dream.'