There is no alternate source of income for the drivers of on-demand ride-sharing companies in the country. Pathao CEO Hussain M Elius said the ride-sharing services could be temporarily barred in deteriorating pandemic situations after providing these drivers with an alternate source of income.
He made the call at a seminar titled ‘Journey of Founding Your Own Venture’ held on the first day of Digital Device & Innovation Expo 2021.
Pathao CEO said, ‘Corona pandemic has started deteriorating again. Although the schools and colleges are closed; but offices, courts, businesses are open. People need to go to their workplaces. We’re stopping the ride-sharing services. Before implementing this rule, drivers should be provided with an alternate income source. ‘Pathao’ has 3 lakh registered drivers. But I could not provide them with alternate income. We are working on these issues and have made various appeals to the government.
He further said, “When there was a lock-down for the first time in the country, people needed various services staying at home. Realizing the need, we launched Pathao- Tong, Pharma, and Health. As a result, people are living through these ride-sharing services. With 3 months bar on ride-sharing, the main source of income for many drivers may be cut off. Hundreds of thousands of riders will fall into trouble.”
Referring to his own failures in starting a startup, he said, “Before ‘Pathao’, we had 5 more startups and we failed in all of these ventures. ‘Pathao’ is now our start-up number 6. I assume some of the 10 startups will be successful. Customers are taking good care of our offline and online services. And we are also trying to expand the market.
The seminar was attended by Mahbub Zaman, Managing Director of Datasoft, Mohammad Russell, Managing Director and CEO of Evaly and Bijan Islam, CEO of Light Castle.
