Bold changes require bold initiatives! Doing this not just on paper but at the ground level is the ride-hailing mammoth, Ola’s Futurefactory that has decided to employ over 10,000 to manufacture electric scooters. What is indeed significant is that this manufacturing hub will be run completely by a women workforce!
Making this announcement was Chairman and Group CEO Bhavish Aggarwal on Monday in his blog. Starting his blog by stating "An Aatmanirbhar Bharat requires Aatmanirbhar women'', Aggarwal stressed on the fact that by setting up this plant, his company was aiming to make the country self-reliant in the electric vehicle segment while ensuring gender parity by employing only women for this factory.
Obviously happy about the start of their ambitious plan, the CEO said: "Today, I am proud to announce that Ola Futurefactory, will be run entirely by women. We welcomed the first batch this week and at full capacity, Futurefactory will employ over 10,000 women, making it the world’s largest women-only factory and the only all-women automotive manufacturing facility globally."
Aatmanirbhar Bharat requires Aatmanirbhar women!
Proud to share that the Ola Futurefactory will be run ENTIRELY by women, 10,000+ at full scale! It’ll be the largest all-women factory in the world!!🙂
Met our first batch, inspiring to see their passion!https://t.co/ukO7aYI5Hh pic.twitter.com/7WSNmflKsd
— Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) September 13, 2021
Giving an indication that this move to employ only women is not just an one off step, he added that this would be the first in a series of initiatives the company is undertaking at Ola to create an inclusive workforce and provide economic opportunities for women across the board.
In fact the skill of the women force has been significantly upscaled to be able to manage the factory on their own.
Making a significant observation about women empowerment, Aggarwal added providing economic opportunities to women goes beyond improving their lives as it also does so for their families and communities. “Providing women parity in the labour workforce can grow India's GDP by 27 percent,” he said.
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Stressing that in order to achieve this, there has been affirmative effort, the CEO said: “But this requires active and conscious efforts from all of us, especially in manufacturing where participation remains the lowest at just 12 percent. For India to be the world’s manufacturing hub, we must prioritise upskilling and generating employment for our women workforce.”
The factory will manufacture its first batch of two million electric vehicle (EV) scooters by 2021-end and spearhead India's green revolution. It needs to be noted that according to a write-up in basf.com, a 2016 survey showed that two-wheelers are used by 37 per cent of metropolitan commuters to reach work and are owned by half the households in India’s bigger cities and developed rural areas.
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Given this scenario, the impact of the two-wheelers on pollution is also significant. In India’s major cities, two-thirds of pollution load is due to two-wheelers. Thus, EV will prove to be a great boon not just for the commuters but also in reducing pollution.
Ola Electric will manufacture two variants S1 and S1 Pro and the are priced at Rs 99,999 and Rs 1,29,000, respectively.
