Entrepreneur and philanthropist Naveen Jain has rightly said,
True philanthropy requires a disruptive mindset, innovative thinking and a philosophy driven by entrepreneurial insights and creative opportunities.
If you come to think of it, the same is true for startups trying to bring about a disruptive behavioural change in the society through creativity and innovation. Hence, it is quite natural that they will be easily able to apply disruption to bring about small and radical changes in our social mindset as well. With their fresh approaches to problem solving, startups try to solve those issues that people face everyday. From time to time startups get engaged with the society and try something ‘out of the box’ initiatives.
For instance, after the recent Nepal Earthquake, several startups like Paytm, Oxigen, Ketto, Freecharge, Shopclues and many more came forward with different strategies to generate relief funds for the survivors of Nepal Earthquake. While Paytm started an offer wherein they matched every contribution made by their customers for the Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund, Oxigen offered 1% of its daily transactions as a donation to Nepal victims every day for the month of May. Freecharge encouraged its users to give a missed call at 9590666222 and for every missed call they received, they contributed INR 20 to the Prime Minister Relief Fund. ShopClues, meanwhile, put up a donation page on its website meant for Nepal earthquake victims and decided to match every rupee donated.
The same forces of disruptive thinking are being employed by on-demand first mile and courier service company Pigen of Bangalore.It offers on-demand services to ship one’s package anywhere across the world. Pigen offers free doorstep pickup from anywhere in Bangalore, home or office at the most economical cost. It also provides safe and high quality packaging at no extra charge and ships one’s package using the premium-most services.
In its endeavour to channelize its business for a social cause, it has partnered with leading NGOs in Bangalore to deliver much needed assistance to the less fortunate by leading the joint initiative ‘Parcel of Happiness’. Under the ‘Parcel of Happiness’ initiative, Pigen is urging donors to come forth and donate items like clothes, bags, books, medicines and other non-perishable goods from the convenience of their homes. Pigen representatives would come to collect the package from the donor’s doorsteps at no cost and pack it properly using industry’s best packaging practices. The parcel will then be shipped to the partner NGOs using the timeliest option at no cost. The donor would be able to track his package throughout its journey as it makes its way to Pigen.
Deovrat Singh, co-founder of Pigen says that through this initiative, they are urging donors to be a part of change, help share some parcels of happiness and bring lots of smile to these little ones.
Deovrat co-founded Pigen with two Kharagpur IITians, Yeshu Singh and Sourav Sarkar in June 2015. The startup provides on-demand courier service, making the process of shipping fast, safe and easy. Users simply have to download the app, snap a picture of the package or shipment, enter details of the recipient. They can then choose a service among the various options available.
Once the details are entered, depending on the sender’s availability, a Pigen representative will collect the package from either the sender’s office or home, pack it in front of the sender using the industry best packaging practices free of cost, and then take it to the company’s warehouse. From there, it is shipped using the most timely and economical options whilst the sender can track the package throughout its journey. Ever since its launch, Pigen has seen app downloads of about 750+. In the future, the startup also aims to tie up with more NGOs to lead more such campaigns.
Pigen’s initiative to leverage its business for disruptive philanthropy is one of the many being undertaken by startups to solve problems for the society using their area of expertise. Recently, Findyahan, a hyperlocal services marketplace based out of Gurgaon, had participated in an anti-mosquito/dengue drive initiative in 10 residential societies of Gurgaon in partnership with Hi Care pest control services. Gurgaon which is an industrial and financial hub, faces waterlogging during monsoon due to huge potholes and strewn garbage on the roads. This proactive campaign by Findyahan was much appreciated by the residents of Gurgaon.
In the same light, Pigen with its ‘Parcel of Happiness’ campaign has simplified the act of giving for donors who want to donate, but are unable to find the time or the zero in the right cause. With Pigen, all they have to do is now focus on ‘what’ they want to donate while the ‘how’ would be taken care of by Pigen.
The tagline for the campaign says-‘Don’t wait to spread good’. By offering users a chance to be a part of a good cause in such an innovative way, Pigen is demonstrating what Scott Talgo said about brands –
A brand that captures your mind gains behavior. A brand that captures your heart gains commitment.
For those wishing to donate, one can download the #PigenApp and start donating.
[This post is sponsored by PigenApp]
