Dunzo launches "Project Swabhimaan" to support financial literacy for Women delivery partners and store executives

This is the first of its kind initiative launched by any q-commerce platform in India in partnership with Parinaam Foundation

BENGALURU, India, May 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Dunzo, one of India's leading hyperlocal and q-commerce brands recently launched, "Project Swabhimaan", a financial literacy program for delivery partners and store pickers associated with the organisation. The training is provided in partnership with Parinaam Foundation, a not-for-profit that works with urban low-income communities.

The women who have undergone this training will have access to information that can help them make sound financial decisions. This will benefit their financial-well being in the long-term, irrespective of their employment with Dunzo.

"At Dunzo, we prioritise the overall wellbeing of our women delivery partners and store executives. This is a learning of a lifetime that will truly benefit them. Financial literacy is a life skill and we don't pay as much attention to it as we should. We wanted to do something that has a direct impact on the earnings of our women delivery partners. One is to offer fair wages, which we do. The other is to give them the understanding needed to create a habit of saving and growing their wealth. We've started with training about 35 women, which is close to 10% of our women partner network," said Ankit Shah, AVP, City and Supply Operations, Dunzo.

In 2023, Dunzo aims to train over 100 women. In the long-term this will become an essential training available to all its partners as part of their onboarding sessions.

People who are employed in the unorganized sector or are independent workers don't have the same support and guidance as employees working in the private sector, especially when it comes to financial literacy and inclusion. This training program in partnership with Parinaam Foundation, is a step towards building financial inclusion among gig economy workers. Through Parinaam Foundation, 9,27,005 beneficiaries have been certified as Rupee Rani (Women) since 2012.

Why Women Gig Workers?

As per the Global Gender gap Report 2022, India ranks 135. This ranking means that among other parameters, a woman's estimated income is much lower than men's. While women earn less than men, they tend to live longer. Additionally, women also end up managing household expenses, children's education, etc. and put their family's financial needs before their own. Yet their awareness on avenues to save or make relevant investments is much less.

Dunzo did an internal survey; with over 100 women delivery partners and store executives, and found that over 62% of women were not aware of saving opportunities like recurring deposits and over 52% were not aware of fixed deposits. The training program contains information around topics such as debt management, banking products, Govt. schemes, UPI usage, budgeting and saving, etc. The training was curated as per the needs and understanding of delivery partners and store executives.

A classic example is Subhashini, one of Dunzo's many store executives. She has been working at Dunzo for over a year. A mother of two, saving for their education was her priority but she was not aware of all the options. Post the training, she plans to build her investments and savings using the schemes and opportunities she learnt about.

"This course helped me understand needs vs wants and opened up multiple ways for me to save and amplify finances. We also had an assessment that helped us evaluate our understanding and ask our trainer more questions. I am happy that I now have a much better understanding of how to save and grow my money," said Lakshmi, a delivery partner.

Building an inclusive gig-economy

This project is in addition to the existing policies which we have for our delivery partners, especially women. Project Shakti was launched to encourage more women to become a part of the growing workforce.  Through Project Suraksha, Dunzo aims to inform, educate and communicate the importance of road safety behaviour to the delivery partners, as well as provide them with the resources to stay safe on the roads. Project Saarthi would  educate the delivery partners on the benefits of various welfare schemes by onboarding them onto the E-shram portal started by the Ministry of Labour and Employment for gig and platform workers. So far, Dunzo is the only organization that has registered 5.5k delivery partners on the e-shram platform.

About Dunzo

Living in the city, we never have enough time to do all the things we want to do. Dunzo can change the way you move things, and how you shop, and lets you access your city like never before. We're an app that connects you to the nearest delivery partner who can make purchases, pick up items from any store or restaurant in the city and bring them to you in the quickest time possible, 24x7!

Started in 2015, with its headquarter in Bangalore, from the humble beginnings of a Whatsapp group, Dunzo has consistently proved its mettle as a convenience app and has grown from strength to strength, opening up verticals like Dunzo Daily, our online grocery ordering portal and Dunzo for Business, an exclusive platform for merchants and business owners.

Through strong technological capabilities and a business model that focuses on operational efficiency, Dunzo aims at revolutionizing India's logistics and retail space. Currently, we are fully operational in 8 cities and counting!