While much of the country is still unable to work due to the declaration of enhanced community quarantine in Luzon 16, on-demand services app MyKuya said businesses with motorcycles can join the platform as an enterprise partner.
MyKuya has seen a 300% rise in requests since the announcement of the lockdown in Metro Manila. These requests — mostly for personal shopping, grocery delivery, or an assistant on bike — are made from users wary of checkpoints, long lines, and of course potential exposure to the Covid-19 virus.
While every user gets serviced by a kuya or ate — each working 100% voluntarily due to their eagerness to earn income and serve their community — they are not the independent contractors one typically sees in the gig economy. All kuyas and ates are employed by an enterprise partner, who provides the driver recruitment, training, and fleet management, while MyKuya brings the demand.
“It’s easy to talk about digital transformation, but the practical reality of doing so for an MSME is very difficult. By serving as their digital storefront, we can connect them with customers in desperate need of their services, providing them with a level of demand that helps them not only survive but thrive,” said MyKuya founder Shahab Shabibi, who added that the success of enterprise partners enables them to maintain and employ more workers, many of them recently laid off due to the lockdown.
Enterprise partners also provide and regularly replenish the personal protective equipment (PPE) of kuyas and ates, while MyKuya assists them in case they have any trouble, such as difficulty passing through a checkpoint.
“On other platforms, you’re a driver or operator, and you’re that forever. There’s no chance to build something bigger. On MyKuya, we give them the tools and technology to not only be an individual operator, but to manage an entire fleet as an enterprise partner. In this way, we enable them to scale their business, the service to our users, and the number of jobs we create, effectively making the platform a growth engine for the Philippines,” said Shabibi.
The profiles of MyKuya’s enterprise partners are diverse. These include companies that employ people with motorbikes who want to generate income and keep employees while core business is down (such as a restaurant chain with an in-house delivery fleet); driver cooperatives; individuals or organizations that may not have a fleet, but are willing to onboard and manage drivers, such as an influential community leader or local barangay; and even companies with an existing fleet of riders in need of a technology platform.
“Before joining MyKuya, we used to only have 65 riders on our team. Now we have 200 riders. The demand and technologies provided by MyKuya has helped us grow, even amid this crisis. With remote tracking, the ability to chat with customers in real-time, and get access to ratings and reviews, we have been able to radically improve our service to our customers,” said Lhen D. Dela Cruz, co-owner of GoMoto Phils.
According to Shabibi, the platform is also agile — enterprise partners can go live with MyKuya in under 24 hours — which is needed now more than ever.
“The time is now to collaborate with one another in the spirit of bayanihan. Mobilizing more Enterprise Partners creates a virtuous cycle that benefits all Filipinos. With every new enterprise partner, we can help more Filipinos with their basic needs, create more jobs with additional kuyas and ates, and grow even more businesses,” he said.
Interested enterprise partners who want to learn more should visit this link or contact the MyKuya team directly at enterprise@mykuya.com or 0977-291-1496.
