Foliyoo: Meet Biswajit who spent childhood between Adiwasi friends now owns a logistics startup in Bhubaneshwar

Problem of transportation lead him to innovation

Foliyoo: Transportation has always been a major issue in small cities or villages of India. Biswajit Muduli, who spent most of his childhood between his Adiwasi friends, when started his own plumbing parts shop in Balimela in Malkangiri (Odisha) realized how hard it was to transport the material from and to his shop in his small town. Biswajit, who holds a Diploma in Electronics and Telecommunications engineering from KIIT Polytechnic and BBA from Sikkim Manipal University, decided to eradicate the major problem of transportation by himself and registered a company known as Foliyoo.

Founder of Foliyoo
Biswajit Muduli, Founder of Foliyoo (Second from left)

Formation of Foliyoo

The startup which was established in Bhubaneshwar in 2018, is a logistic aggregator that provides a complete transportation solution to its customers through its web and mobile based application. Foliyoo was registered to cater the transportation needs of customers as well as it was designed to make the truck drivers feel master of their own job. It gives an option to truck drivers to decide what they would like to be paid for a particular booking whereas customers can choose the best option from the list of truck drivers and their cost of service. So this becomes a win-win situation for both the truck drivers and the customers of Foliyoo.

Hurdles in the journey

However, Biswajit, the founder of Foliyoo was clear of the fact that neither the driver nor the customer would feel comfortable with the app, so he launched the phone services first and later launched the web and mobile app. Although, company seeks to provide its services through apps only. The startup doesn’t compromise with the safety of customer’s information and material which is to be transported from one place to other. It onboard truck drivers on its platform only after their background verification check is completed thoroughly. Once the background verification check is done, the drivers are registered with Foliyoo and are guided on how the app works.

“Making the truck drivers opt for our platform was a huge problem for us. Because of the poor experience they had with similar other companies, they were very reluctant to sign up with Foliyoo. To gain their trust we had only one option which was to tell them patiently who we are, what we do and how we are different from other companies in the same industry,says Biswajit Muduli, founder of Foliyoo in his note to Startup Anecdotes.

While the drivers are associated with Foliyoo, the startup consistently helps by instructing them through anything they might need to understand. Before the lockdown, Foliyoo completed 600 bookings, which were all made over the phone. The startup has completed 150 bookings through the app. However, the startup is continuously working on its app to improve the User-experience.

Future goals

As per now, the startup operates only in Bhubaneswar (Odisha), though it has plans to expand in Sambalpur and Rourkela as well. The startup is planning to expand its services in other sectors of delivery as well like medicine and books delivery. In the long run the startup aims to bring more drivers on their platform and expand their reach to Pan India.

(Edited by Team Startup Anecdotes)