We have maintained a zero-defect record. No packet has been delivered to a wrong address, so far.Dhruv Lakra, Founder and CEO, Mirakle Couriers

This courier company has caught the interest of several big Mumbai-based businesses such as Mahindra and Mahindra, Godrej & Boyce and the Aditya Birla Group. This band is proactively spreading the word about Mirakle Couriers. They urge city-based industrial houses to support the fledgling enterprise. And they are going all out to help the company.

For instance, Mirakle has office space bang opposite Churchgate, in the heart of town, thanks to the Aditya Birla Group. It would have cost Mirakle over Rs 50,000 a month to rent space (250 sq ft) in this part of the city. Now, it uses the office free of cost.

“It’s critical for a courier company to have a central location,” says Subrato Sarkaar, Vice-President, Administration, Aditya Birla Group. Before moving to Churchgate, the start-up had found a benefactor in Thermax, an environmental engineering company. Thermax allowed Mirakle to function from its Colaba office for a while, on launching its operations in November 2008.

Supplier Diversity

Though all of Mirakle’s employees are deaf, Mirakle has an impeccable service record. “We have maintained a zero-defect record. No packet has been delivered to a wrong address, so far,” says Dhruv Lakra, Founder and CEO, Mirakle Couriers.

Lakra, after a short stint as an investment banker in Mumbai, decided his future was not cut out for high finance but in pounding the streets as a social entrepreneur. An MBA from Oxford, as a Scholl scholar, prepared him for the role. On his return from Oxford in October 2008, he chanced upon a conversation between a deaf commuter and a bus conductor. The former’s gesticulations made little sense to either the conductor or Lakra, but the encounter remained etched on his mind.

A quick bit of research revealed that the hearing impaired was the most ignored of all disabilities; the most under-funded as well. Lakra decided to be an ambassador for them. “I entered the courier business as it is manpower-and-volume-driven. It can provide employment to the maximum number of deaf,” he explains. Lakra started business with just about £300 he had saved from his Oxford scholarship. He knew it would be a rough ride. But, he didn’t anticipate the tide of support he would receive from corporates.

These companies were actually putting into practice the tenets of supplier diversity—a term they are not yet familiar with. It is a mature practice in the US and Europe. Large corporations there seek out small vendors from the marginalised sections of society, and through a process of handholding ensure their growth. For instance, Procter & Gamble in the US buys goods and services worth $1.5 billion from minority- and women-owned businesses every year. The goal is to take this to $2.5 billion by 2010.

Back home, all companies under the Aditya Birla Group spend about Rs 6 crore on courier services each year. Even a small slice of this—intra-city deliveries to start with—means a lot for a social enterprise like Mirakle. This is beginning to happen.

Green Shoots?

While Sarkaar is not certain about the concept or the import of supplier diversity, he is certain about Mirakle’s efficient services. “Their systems are better than that of other professional courier services,” he says. The Central Mail Receiving and Despatch (CMRD) unit at Godrej & Boyce, which enlisted Mirakle only last month, has a similar experience. Godrej, after trying out 50 to 100 packets with Mirakle, wanted to load the courier with higher numbers when the company wanted to dispatch fixed deposit certificates. Lakra, however, refused. He felt he was not yet ready for an immediate scale up. “This only proves his commitment to creating a robust business,” says Nariman D Bacha, who presides over the CMRD at Godrej & Boyce.

Mirakle, within eight months, has endeared itself to the clutch of companies that has dared to experiment with it. In the process, they have unwittingly set in motion the concept of supplier diversity in the private sector. JJ Irani, Chairman of the CII Council on Affirmative Action, has already sowed the seeds of supplier diversity within the Tata Group companies.

“What we need is soft support from corporates,” says Lakra. He expects no other concession from clients. He competes with mainline courier firms on price, and doesn’t expect business to come as charity. “When the attitude of charity comes in, mediocrity also seeps in,” he says. So far, Mirakle has delivered over 10,000 packets. “We have grown from two to 34 employees, without parallel growth in revenue generation,” he says. He endeavours to set up a training system for his team, all in sign language.

Lakra has no time to waste. Idea Cellular has asked him whether he can deliver bills to its customers across Mumbai—the numbers are in tens of thousands. And Lakra’s employees, like Jagtap from Chembur, are rising to the occasion.

Jagtap is also one of Mirakle’s star performers. As a window cleaner, he earned a pittance. The bright orange uniform of Mirakle and a monthly pay of Rs 3,000 plus incentives have lent him a new confidence and dignity. Jagtap is also courting a girl in his neighbourhood. “I will marry her when I save enough for my wedding,” he gesticulates with a blush.

He’s sure of one thing—the venue will not be anywhere near the Azad Maidan.