Founder and Chairman of SammaaN Foundation®

My Favourite Entrepreneur Mr. Irfan Alam.

Age – 30 Yrs.

Alumni of IIM-Ahmadabad.

Why Mr. Irfan Alam is My Favourite Entrepreneur?

I used to get teased about my name in my teenage by my mates and

acquaintance. My name is Abdul Sharique, if you pronounce it in Hindi it

will become “Sharik”, and if you try to speak my name repeatedly it will

sound “Rik-sha” which is alike “Rickshaw” in Hindi. I used to be bright,

enthusiastic, optimistic and sensitive person, so whenever they tease me

by calling “Rik-sha” I try to correlate it with something positive.

It was a summer of 2005 or 06, I am not sure. I was heading towards

my home on rickshaw from bank. I was bit upset because of spat with my

family member on mundane matter. Suddenly I heard someone is calling

me. It was one of my alumni of Zila High school, Purnea. I told rickshaw-

wala (rickshaw puller) to park aside for a few moments. My friend told me

“Where Rick-sha is going on rickshaw”. After telling my friend goodbye,

I started thinking about his remarks. Suddenly an idea popped in my mind

to do something good for the sake of rickshaw pullers, and it will be a slap

on face of those who keep teasing you. I started thinking about the welfare

of rickshaw puller and opportunity to give and earn status and money.

In this process what I planned is quite exact as the concept of IIM

Ahmadabad alumnus and social entrepreneur Mr. Irfan Alam the founder

of “Summaan Foundation” a non-profit organisation. When I read an

article about him, I felt disheartened for an interval. However, after a

while started to think positively. I consoled myself “It’s nice that someone

is implementing idea which is similar to yours. Two people can think in

same way. You have an innovative brain and ideas always pop out of your

mind. Ideas and opportunities are like buses, there is always another one

coming. Thinking and implementation are to different thing. So, hats-off

to Mr. Irfan Alam”. From that very day he became my favourite

entrepreneur and decided to complete my remaining studies to uplift the

condition of poor fellows of our society with tons of innovative ideas. I

have a mantra think about others and success will be yours.

Mr. Irfan Alam popularly known as the “Rickshaw man of Bihar”. A

IIM-alumnus and Economics graduate from Begusarai district of Bihar.

After completing his education he could have earned a lot by taking up a

job as a manager in any good company but he founded SammaaN

Foundation to work on his innovative idea. His idea was to systematize the

working of all rickshaw pullers by bringing them under one roof.

On 25th January 2007 he founded “SammaaN Foundation” with

around 100 rickshaws and pullers and today he has around 3 Lakhs pullers

registered under him. According to him, in India there are unions for

everyone except rickshaw pullers, so he took their cause and modernized

rickshaw pulling sector (rickshaw pullers comprise 30% in urban

transport). His efforts bared fruit and rickshaw pullers started to earn more

due to his efforts.

Active in seven states and growing. The states are Bihar, Jharkhand,

Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. He wants

to cover 10 million rickshaw pullers, who in search of employment come

to cities and start pulling rickshaws. He wants to cover 10 million

rickshaw pullers, who in search of employment come to cities and start

pulling rickshaws. He wants to uplift the condition of these poor fellows.

Irfan Alam provides Rickshaw-pullers with the following services –

1. He offered them rickshaw at a nominal rent (Rs. 10 -20 depending upon cities). Earlier these pullers used to pull hired rickshaw for Rs 50 per day. Now by paying a nominal amount they started saving a large amount.

2. He got banks to offer them loans, initially he invested 10 lakh rupees to start this and as he became popular, funds started to flow. As pullers started to earn more they are now in a position to pay their instalments.

3. He designed new rickshaws which have shelves which can carry newspaper, mineral water, and other small items for sale such as mobile recharge coupons, courier collections, bill collections and payments, etc. To make the ride more comfortable and entertaining he provided them with music, magazine, and first aid kits and thus transformed this into a marketing engine.

4. He provided rickshaws with advertisement. He designed the rickshaw in such a way that it provided ample space for ads. The revenue of which is divided equally between the puller and SammaaN. This adds to the income of the rickshaw puller who earns from ads and the sales.

5. For purpose of designing, he established a fully fledged R&D center in Patna, for this purpose he has employed 3 engineers and more than 15 workers who work so as to bring innovation in rickshaw models so that they become more profitable and user friendly.

6. Besides these benefits Sammaan provides free uniform to all registered pullers, and a saving banks account from the day they are registered.

7. They cover accidental insurance amounting to Rs 1 lakh to pullers and the commuters.

8. Provides books to their children and conducts evening classes for pullers and their children under the social program “Sammaan Gyaan”.

9. Gives training in occupational skills to the wifes of operators, such as embroidery, stitching and tailoring.

10. They share a part of the income earned through value added services with the pullers, thus maintaining ethics.

Awards & Acclamations achieved by Mr. Irfan Alam:

He attended many seminars and lectures in variousHe attended many seminars and lectures in various universities across the globe like John F. Kennedyuniversities across the globe like John F. Kennedy School School of Government, Harvard business School andof Government, Harvard business School and Stanford University, Indian Institute of Technology,Stanford University, Indian Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Management, ManagementIndian Institute of Management, Management Development Institute etc..Development Institute etc..

Mr. Irfan Alam had been invited forMr. Irfan Alam had been invited for  PresidentialPresidential SummitSummit, 2010 at Washington by the US, 2010 at Washington by the US PresidentPresident  Barack ObamaBarack Obama. .

Winner of Business World’s “Most promisingWinner of Business World’s “Most promising Entrepreneur Award”.Entrepreneur Award”.

Winner of “Young Indian leader” award by CNN-IBN.Winner of “Young Indian leader” award by CNN-IBN. He has been selected among :He has been selected among :

oo “40 Youth icons of India” by “40 Youth icons of India” by India TodayIndia Today, , oo “24 Youth icons of India” by India Today Aspire “24 Youth icons of India” by India Today Aspire oo India’s Best 30 Youths” byIndia’s Best 30 Youths” by  Times of IndiaTimes of India. .

Featured in theFeatured in the  The GuardianThe Guardian, London and, London and  TheThe EconomistEconomist, ,

He is a finalist of TATA NEN “Hottest Start-upsHe is a finalist of TATA NEN “Hottest Start-ups Awards” Awards”

Winner ofWinner of “World “World  Innovation Award”. Innovation Award”. He is the winner of Business World’s “Most PromisingHe is the winner of Business World’s “Most Promising

Entrepreneur Award”. Entrepreneur Award”. He was selected as anHe was selected as an  ““AshokaAshoka  Fellow in 2010”.Fellow in 2010”.

Organisations run under the umbrella of SummaaN Foundation:

SammaaN Women Association- Which provides education, training and employment opportunities for women.

MATiNS Enterprise - An interactive outdoor advertising, marketing and portfolio management company.

Ambitions of SammaaN Foundation:

As per the statement made by the chairman of SammaaN Foundation, “We see ourselves becoming the first social enterprise to go public, and we've set the clock for 2012. By 2015, we aim to become a globally listed company.”

Next in line is low cost housing for rickshaw operators, carbon trading opportunities. The company is expecting 400 per cent growth this year which will increase its turnover manifold from the current Rs one million.

Model Rickshaw of SammaN Foundation

With fellow members of the foundation (Rickshaw-pullers)

Partners of SammaaN Foundation

CONCLUSION

Now with his hard work and dedication this 30 year old, young entrepreneur has showed the world that if you have vision, you can achieve the unachievable. Now as he is reaching heights his clients are also increasing and big names such as Punjab National Bank (PNB), HT, Bisleri, Bharti Airtel, Dena bank etc are joining his corporate social sustainability model.