To celebrate women’s achievements, opportunities and potentials, PickMe has announced the launch of “PickMe Sri Liya Abhinandana” by offering free vehicle registration for Sri Lankan women during the month of March. Being one of the leading taxi hailing software providers, PickMe intends to showcase the importance of women entrepreneurs and the tremendous impact they bring to society through their new offer designed exclusively to encourage more Sri Lankan women to succeed as impactful entrepreneurs.
“Female labour participation serves as a significant component of labour utilization in an economy and also acts as a signal of economic empowerment of women.
It is my belief that women have always been a giant contributor to a country’s economy, without necessarily being part of the corporate workforce,” says Chief Executive Officer, PickMe, Zulfer Jiffry , .
He also mentioned that the program, Sri Liya Abhinandana is in fact a felicitation of female staff, by their lady driver fleet at PickMe and also ladies who wish to take up the trade, during the month of March.
“At PickMe, I have seen our female drivers display extraordinary skill in managing time and finances: Some of them being single mothers and engaged in multiple entrepreneurial ventures while also driving full time on our platform.
I find them inspiring positive change in their communities, in business and in our country at large. That is why I believe that we ought to encourage and empower the female workers to assure them an environment in which they can work without fear of being undermined, underappreciated and most importantly undervalued,” says Jiffry.
The Vice President- Communications at PickMe, Portia Ratnayake, says that PickMe hopes to help society to evolve from the notion of stigma attached to the job and enable both men and women to take it up with pride.
“It is in reality a lucrative trade that not only helps to uplift the living standards of those employed in it. But also contribute largely to the country’s economy in terms of transport and tourism.”
PickMe has a total of 30 lady drivers driving everything from three wheelers to sedans. The job, being a taxi driver does not usually attract a high number of females mainly due to concerns regarding their personal safety and dangers of the job.
According to PickMe, their system eases these concerns since the lady driver is equipped with the information of the passenger that will be getting into her vehicle and has the ability to be pro-active about dangers with the assurance of PickMe driver- support team behind her.
“Being a woman born to a culture that often venerates the role of a woman, I think I would be voicing the feelings of all women good in business. Working in an organisation that carries this culture forward and in fact uplifts it, is truly an honour and a privilege. Therefore it is with great enthusiasm that I invite women aspiring to put their skills to good use to join PickMe,” says Portia.
Currently, PickMe hosts the largest organised taxi fleet in the country with over 12,000 three wheelers, mini cars, cars, vans and luxury sedans. Their passenger base is over one million.
PickMe also provides corporate travelling solutions to businesses and organisations with the PickMe Business Portal, the benefits of which is currently enjoyed by over 150 corporates in the country.
Comments from some of the lady drivers at PickME
Senani de Silva
Senani, who joined PickMe as a lady driver in October 2015, says, at first it was just a part time job for her but later she decided to do it full time since she could earn more from the job. “I gave up on my government job and started driving the taxi as my full time job. There are times I have worked 24hours. Usually by the time I finish my work it is 3, 4 in the morning. I have never faced any embarrassing or difficult situations. Some say that this is not a job suited for women. I do not agree with it. This job is far better than going abroad. One can earn more than Rs: 100,000 a month which is a very good income. I am very grateful to PickMe because if not for it we would never get the chance to do a job like this.”
Lasanda Deepthi
Single parent says , “When I first joined my main concern was whether PickMe can guarantee my safety while at work. The company explained to me about how it works and how responsible it was about us. The first day I worked I realised how good this job was. I have never got this many good responses and encouragement from people. I am so glad I chose this taxi job and I am very proud about it. It has been a great strength for us to build up our lives”
Sunethra Jayaweera
“PickMe makes sure that we do this job without any stress. It is a very convenient job which perfectly suits a woman. If I cannot go to work due to family commitments then we can do that. The support we get from PickMe is tremendous. Because of this job we were able to get our work done all by ourselves without depending on anyone and now I earn a lot more than I used to do.”