Equity Magazine October 2017

ENTREPRENEUR
can book anything from a one-tonne pick-up
truck to 40 ft trailers. That’s where TruKKers is
steps ahead compared to Uber. As Biswas
pointed out, even before Uber or Careem was in
the region, there were cabs with standardised
metres. The same can’t be said for trucks. “No
one has bothered standardising rates. Global
companies including P&G and Unilever, have
those things in place because they can afford
to,” says Biswas. “They consume about 40
trucks a day. However, 80 per cent of the UAE
market is a fragmented consumer market. They
don’t know whether they will need 100 or 10
trucks per month. Their demand and supply
work differently. They resort to getting trucks
on an ad hoc basis.
“There’s also a case to be made for third-party
risk,” says Mallavarapu. “A large percentage of
the truck market is run by individuals. Say if I
want to transport Dhs100,000 worth of goods, I
have to blindly trust the driver. And if he takes
about four hours for a two-hour delivery, I’m at
risk.” It doesn’t help that most of these
individual truck owners struggle with
paperwork. Some of them can’t even be
bothered with an invoice and should you ask for
one, they’ll simply scribble the cost on a piece of
paper. The duo aren’t a fan of those shady
transactions, which is why the app produces
instant invoices. For companies who aren’t
worried about the cost but wish to budget, this
is a blessing. “The app even benefits drivers,”
Mallavarapu says. “They’re usually the ones
Think of us as a
technology interface that’s
solving the issue of drivers
not getting enough business
and consumers not finding
decent truck drivers.
We’re helping the demand
find supply
waiting at an industrial estate for a job to come
through. In a week, these guys would get about
two or three transactions at best. That’s why the
rates were high. Now that they have regular
jobs, their rates have dropped. That way the
customer is happy too.”
Ever the hustler, Biswas has the last word,
“Think of us as a technology interface that’s
solving the issue of drivers not getting enough
business and consumers not finding decent truck
drivers. We’re helping the demand find supply.”
Don’t let that good-natured quote fool you.
These guys are astute, like all successful
businessmen. Sure, they’re helping people along
the way, but these guys capitalised on a gap in the
system. They’re not simply businessmen, they’re
opportunists. That’s why they’ve grown so much
in such a short time.
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EQUITY