Offering quality services doesn’t stop at creating apps and websites – UrbanClap Co-founder
New Delhi: Mr Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Co-founder, UrbanClap, said that offering quality services to the customers is not just about building an app and a website. A start-up entering the unorganized sector should be willing to get its hands dirty, he added.
Speaking at the 92nd Annual Convention of FICCI on the theme ‘India: Roadmap to a $5 Trillion Economy’, Mr Bhal shared his experience of creating UrbanClap – an app and website through which consumers can order trusted and high-quality home services – and taking it forward.
Mr Bhal said he accidentally stumbled upon this large unorganized sector. “UrbanClap is a platform for these blue-collar professionals to get training, legitimacy, right tools and technology and where they for the first time get to keep 80% of what the customer pays. So for the first time we see these professionals making Rs 40,000-50,000-60,000 per month, they have decency of life and are part of India’s middle class, and there is an incentive for them to behave in a professional manner,” he said.
“We have close to 100 training centers in 15 cities. We have an internal log of 200 full-time trainers and in a given month we train 4,000-5,000 professionals, and many a time, absolute freshers with no experience,” he said.
Mr Bhal also talked about the struggles of raising capital especially in an unproven sector with no global playbook like the one in which UrbanClap operates.
Ms Meena Ganesh, MD/CEO, and Co-founder, Portea Medical, said that the past 5-7 years have seen a huge number of technology-led start-ups in the healthcare space. “It is possible for start-ups that are innovative to find a space where they can make a difference,” she said.
Mr Naveen Kukreja, Co-founder and CEO, Paisabazaar.com, said, “There is a huge opportunity that start-ups are seeing in all categories of financial products.”
He said that the financial sector is unique because it not only contributes directly to the economy and the GDP but is a big enabler, contributing indirectly to the growth of other sectors as well.
Dr Saurabh Srivastava, Former Chairman, NASSCOM, said, “Digital revolution is going to change the way things happen. The biggest revolution that has happened is what technology has done to the world of start-ups.” He added that start-ups are beginning to engage in the real challenges of India.
Mr Sandip Somany, President, FICCI, said, “With approximately 30,000 start-ups and 30-plus unicorns, India is today home to the third-largest start-up ecosystem globally. Projections indicate that by 2025, India may well have 1,00,000 start-ups, employing over 3.25 million people, and producing 100-plus unicorns, with a total market value worth over $500 billion.”
“Start-ups will contribute considerably to the vision of achieving a $5 trillion economy by providing innovative avenues for investment,” Mr Somany added.
Dr Sangita Reddy, President-elect, FICCI, said, “It is the entrepreneurial spirit of the Indian businessman and businesswoman which is the single most powerful factor to drive this economy forward.”