Women on Wheels

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 Forsche, a ladies taxi service exclusively

for women and driven by lady At the time when she thought of setting up the service, Roys personal life was rife with misfortune. With her husband in a coma, all assets sold, no bank balance and three children to support, Roythen 47also did not have any idea of the transportation sector or the public transport market.
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Women on Wheels
Despite the odds, Roy began looking for an

advertising agency in Mumbai that would give her publicity on crediteven before she had arranged for the cars. Roy launched Forsche on March 8 this year, which also happens to be International Womens Day.

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Women on Wheels

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Women on Wheels
The first ads appeared in January 07,

announcing the launch of For She in March that year. Four days later, Roys husband passed away. I had nothing further to lose. Swami Vivekanandas message that one needs vision more than eyes inspired me to hit out on my own and shape the business up. A friend contributed two second-hand cars, but the first customers only came in May 07.
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Women on Wheels
Roy set up an office in a garage; she would fill fuel for the cars and send

them out with no passengers all over the city for publicity. Roy herself drove a taxi for ten months. Later, some of her customers predominantly senior citizens and families helped her buy 12 more cars.

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TRAINING OF DRIVERS..
Hiring women drivers wasnt a cakewalk,

either. To tide over the latter, Roy started training women, mostly from the urban poor community. Her training school, run by her company For She Travel and Logistics Pvt. Ltd., trains 25 girls every batch.

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TRAINING OF DRIVERS..

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TRAINING OF DRIVERS..
Upon graduating, they become associates

with Orix and get a fixed salary of Rs. 5,000 a month for working 12-hour shifts for 26 days. In addition, they get per kilometer revenue, eventually earning between Rs. 7,00010,000. Since the drivers are not under anyones direct payroll, they are almost selfemployed.

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TRAINING OF DRIVERS..
Recently, the Bombay Municipal Corporation

has also tied up with Roys training institute to sponsor the training of 23 girls and help mobilize the urban poor women into employment. Apart from driving skills, they are trained in soft and language skills, martial arts and city/ road familiarization. This ensures safety while driving at night and the girls can double up as tour guides for foreign tourists, Roy explains.
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TRAINING OF DRIVERS..

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TRAINING OF DRIVERS..
I had made a commitment to myself and all

the ladies who had decided to work with me on a venture which was in no way a conventional venture because I had to change a lot of mindsets, she says looking back to those tough days

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Revathi Roy, for whom this venture is a dream come true.

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FUTURE PLANS
Eventually, Roy would like to have 50 taxis

on the road. She is also looking for tie-ups with various hotels, but no contracts have been signed as yet. Her dream is to start a Churchgate-Nariman Point share-a-cab for women. However, it might be difficult to obtain permission for this as Forsche taxis would then come into direct competition with Mumbais traditional black and yellow cabs.
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FUTURE PLANS
For the moment, Forsche is treated as a

tourist taxi operator, and therefore it does not need to have the mandatory permits required even for private taxi companies like Meru and Mumbai Gold Cab. There are also plans to start a womens taxi service in Pune in July and the Forsche Ladies Driving School in Mumbai by the end of August. .
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FUTURE PLANS
Moreover, Roy is contemplating to set up a

self-defense academy at some point in the future. A ladies taxi service does not have to be Mumbai-centric only, but it can also be started in cities like Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore where women travel a lot, Roy says

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FUTURE PLANS
Roy is upbeat about the future and hopes to

have 200 For She cabs on Indian streets by the end of this year. Roy is a happy entrepreneur who fought to take her business plan off the ground, despite all odds. She is now turning the fortune of other women.

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FUTURE PLANS

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THANK YOU.

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