Here is Turtu Services for your Emergency Situations

In in this buzz of startup world, innovative businesses coming into headline, some are getting funded, some are getting listed, some are bootstrapping some are ideating and some are in legal battles with regulations. We can find startups in every stage of the Business Cycle. Thanks to the Government of India and Government of Karnataka for creating startup ecosystem and all institutions, schools, colleges, incubation centers, VC`s, Angel investors pitching in and nurturing young ideas, conducting startup fests, competitions etc. In Belagavi itself we can find so many events happening to boost Entrepreneurial talents. We are currently in the Startup festival celebrated 365 days. Having said this in this article I am sharing my conversation with a unique startup bootstrapped in Belagavi called Turtu Services

Turtu services (ತುರ್ತು) (translates as Emergency in English). Myself being a start-up enthusiastic researched this start-up. And the very simple solution they are providing in the simplest way mesmerised me. This article is a detailed interaction with the founder Mr Anil Chavan,

Just to give a background I stumbled upon this start-up when I saw something different in college road, Belagavi. I saw a delivery boy delivering Cake to one person, Tiffin box to another while having many goods with him still. I quickly interrupted him and asked him if it was courier service. Delivery boy hurriedly said “Its Turtu Service, Delivering anything from anywhere in Belagavi” and handed over a vising card.

After a couple of days and not find much information about Turtu Services online except for the company website Turtu.in I called the number on the visiting card. Imagine delivering anything to anywhere business minus technology. It was obvious that it would be very difficult to get connected with the founder of Turtu Services. That time I was working as a lecturer in a leading business school in Belagavi. And using it to my advantage I dropped him a text when my calls were unanswered. After few hours received the reply.

Mr Anil Chavan was already there in Pavan Hotel when I went there. After initial greetings Anil started with the same sentence as the delivery boy, “We deliver anything to anywhere in Belagavi” and added “safely, quickly”. Further he explained how his small team of 10 delivery boys, two call centre employees are finding it very exciting to take and process the orders. He said the call centre no, delivery boys no, his own phone no will always be ringing, As he said this he showed me his phone ringing with an “unknown” no. He kept the phone on table, we decided to observe how many missed calls will be there by the end of our conversation.

Anil Chavan started this business in 2019 when he was back to home because of Covid. He recalls his first delivery was delivering vegetables from Hanuman Nagar to Mahantesh Nagar. And recalls delivering during covid was a nightmare. What started as social service today makes on an average of 100 deliveries in normal days and reaches up to 200 Deliveries during festival and special days.

“Though I had started it as social service and to kill time after being bored of work from home, the response of people had ignited potential of the business. The busy schedule of a person, working couples, elderly parents, increasing traffic etc were all the reasons that I had anticipated, and today these are the reasons people rely on us”

Further, he said, every time any delivery is made, customers always say “Thank you, you saved my half hour/1 hour/2 hour etc” or “It would have been very difficult if you wouldn’t be there” or “Thank god you are here” etc. “The children of elderly parents staying abroad know our delivery boys by their first name” He added with a smile

When asked “Quick delivery is no rocket science, and more over it’s a first world problem when compared to more pressing issues such as health care, education, food water etc. And giants such as Zepto, Dunzo etc entering in to Belagavi market might make things difficult for you. Haven’t you taken a big risk by resigning from a corporate job and weighing all your luck on this now lucrative business model?

His face lit up with the charm and he looked like a child when offered Ice cream or candy. “I was hoping this question will be asked” he continued, “Our business model is our USP. We have built our own organic system which is the result of spending 30 years in Belagavi, and also single handily making 40 to 50 deliveries during covid. We don’t use any application, we do not have technology yet, and with just a phone we can manage 200 deliveries with 100% precision. All our customers have to do is just ring us to inform us about pickup and delivery and it will be done, as simple as that, no booking, tracking, no OTP etc. “What about the safety/security of the products?

He said “Till now not even a single complaint is received”

“But does it guarantee it won’t happen? “When a delivery person becomes 100 no?” I countered

Again child in front of the candy came up and he replied “There is not a single complaint till now is not by chance or fluke, it’s because of SOP we follow. We hire delivery boys who are of Belagavi origin, and before hiring them apart from police verification, we take reference letter from local public and public representatives, and we only hire when the safety score is 100%” And when no delivery boys increase we will use technology.

“What is this safety score?” “It’s our in-built parameter for hiring delivery boys”

“What are your special deliveries, or deliveries which u felt special?”

“For us every delivery which ever can be carried on Bike is special, but there are few of them which I found “What???”, and the customer also said “Thank god you are here”

“What are they you are making me curious?”

“There are many of them, very recently got a call from Hubli, somebody from belagavi had shared no to them. The passenger was travelling from Ranabennur to Pune, he got down in Hubli bus stand for nature call, by the time he came back bus had left, with all his luggage. He calls us at 10 pm. I calmed him and went to the bus stand at around 12 picked up his luggage waited another hour and handed him the luggage. Here one more catch is the passenger didn’t know bus no!!!. So every time bus enters I should check if it’s coming from Ranabennur, Upon that someone said night long route bus don’t come to bus stand. I said to him “Chahca chai peo soo javo” of course in my mind. After receiving the call I said “What???” a customer said “Thank God!”

One more special delivery was of a man (not delivering man!) who had come to a leading hospital for his dad check-up, but Dad had to be admitted. Both Dad and Son had come with intention to go back to their town. Got the call, “Can u pick a bag containing clothes and food from Gandhi Nagar Bus stop to XYZ hospital”. Again “What?” Our delivery boy delivered and wished the elderly a faster recovery and the customer said “Thank God!”

Delivering food to patients from their homes always makes us feel special. Many home products manufactures relay on us for delivery. We have deposited a/c payee cheque, we have delivered to and from Transport/courier offices. We receive order from officials telling to purchase “Mandage” from Saralaya Store in Tilak Chowk and deliver to their office on days before long weekends. We do purchasing for customers only if one item has to be purchased from one shop only. Sometimes the shop will be closed that time we don’t charge.”

Once we received a call at 8:45 pm saying “I have a bus to catch at 9 from Ramdev hotel, and I have forgotten my key at home, if I go back to get it I will miss the bus, can you deliver on time” our delivery boy in Tilakwadi was appraised about this priority delivery. It was made and again after receiving the call we said “What?” and the customer said “Thank god”

“Like this if I go on telling there are 100s of stories, one last one to tell is got a call “ Hi I am speaking form XYZ city. I am coming to take my bike parked in college. I will reach Belagavi at 4 PM. Can you go to Vega factory buy a helmet and give it to me at Belgaum Bus stand?” Again we said “What??” Then our delivery boy delivered helmet, then customer and his helmet to his bike. Then the customer said “Thank god!”

“Wow such interesting stories, how do you ensure anything not safe, illegal is not carried?” “For that itself we are developing technology and its ready and being tested. As of now, we take the Phone no, a Soft copy of the Aadhar card of the sender and a small physical form that acts as order confirmation. Once technology is used everything will be automated.”

“Then again you are also coming back to the same app, notification, otp, booking etc which u said you are not practicing”

“Technology is only for the backend, even after using technology all customers have to do is call the same delivery boys”

“Isn’t retaining delivery boys a problem” “Customers are solution to this problem, last year one delivery boy left for some odd job paying 1000 rs more after 15 days he came back because he could tolerate phone calls from our customers, deliver this/deliver that. And job satisfaction after you hear “Thank god your are there” is unmatchable.

Is your every day so interesting and jolly” I asked.

“Oh my god, the moment I enter the office it’s like a war room, all phones will be ringing, a call centre person will be taking order, another will be passing the order to delivery boy, another delivery boy will be calling to tell nobody is there to receive, either sender’s phone will be off or receiver will be off, the pickup point person either comes too early and keeps calling, delivery location changes on the way, the delivery boy has to negotiate with traffic with continuous calls from call centre calls to personal no, getting right direction, reaching railway station before train departs omg! Let me not think of office only in office.” was his reply

“On a serious not will you be able to compete with Swiggy/Zomato/Zepto?” I was curious.

“We don’t consider them at all, it’s not my arrogance but there are various reasons why I am telling this. First they cannot get the Best CRM tool that we have i.e “Mohallae ka ladka” tag that our customers have given to our delivery boys. Second by the time their delivery boy tracks destination in google map and reaches, our delivery boy will have made 2 more deliveries. Third With their APP cost, marketing cost they can never provide service at our price. On top of it we are just a call away, where as in their case customer has to install one more app, bear notifications etc.” And moreover, Belgaumites always prefer Made in Belagavi service.

That’s the reason our more no of restaurants are tying up with us for food delivery.

What if they buy you out? (Swiggy/Zomato/Zepto etc)

Buy us? Our customers along with our delivery boys will chase us if we do anything of that sort. At least I think so as per my experience with customers.

“OK then. I think we will continue our conversation another time with lot more of special deliveries made. Before we moved, you didn’t tell me about your co-founders, other people in your business.

“Ok.. Myself Anil Chavan I am Electronics and Communication engineer. My co founders are Sandeep Kumar also Electronic and Communication engineer, and Mallikarjun Kamble Computer Science Engineer. Two of us are of native Belagavi and another hardly I have seen him visit his native Bangalore in last 2 years. And Turtu Services is a registered LLP firm”

“And if anybody is interested in your business model how do they connect with you, like a start up mentor, fellow entrepreneur etc or to which no customer must call to place up order”

People can place order on 7975443090 for normal deliveries and for emergency or priority delivery they can call me on 8747858317 I will coordinate. Also, any person who would like to know about us can call on my no i.e 8747858317, they can WhatsApp or msg if I don’t receive and our office is at Plot no 476, Flat no 2 Second Floor, Shivbasav Nagar, Belagavi”

“Oh ok that reminds me of A……nd you have got 56 missed calls in 3 hours!”

You can reach the Author Nachiket Hanmantgad at [email protected]