COGOS Technologies, the Bangalore-based tech-logistics company, today, announced the appointment of Vandana Mazumdar as the Manager of EV Vertical Pan India. The employment will further aim at supporting the company’s idea of adding more women drivers and owners to their fleet. Vandana comes with experience of 12 years in the industry and has previously been associated with companies like Meru and JetFleet.
With this COGOS will aim at creating 500 women entrepreneurs in fiscal 2022-23. The company last year announced adding 500 women drivers to its fleet and taking the next step COGOS will now be creating entrepreneurial opportunities for women in logistics. The programme will focus on three areas. The first will be to train women to become DCO and have their own EV fleet which can consist of both men and women drivers. This will also support the EV adoption goal set by COGOS of adding 2500 EVs to their fleet. The second will be to help women owners financially and COGOS has tied up with a third party in order to help with the financing. The third will be to develop flexible working hours for women. The sector operates in two shifts and COGOS will keep both the shifts open for women in order to bring convenience to work for them.
Globally, in 2010, women formed only 8 per cent of the logistics workforce which has steadily increased to 20 per cent in 2018. In India, specifically, this number currently stands at approximately 15 per cent and is expected to reach the current global average of 20 per cent by 2022. The pilot of this programme has already started in Bangalore with an aim to spread PAN India. These women entrepreneurs will be serving big e-commerce, grocery and food delivery companies who are associated with COGOS. COGOS is one of the early players in the industry to take up this initiative.
Further, elaborating on the programme and the hiring, Prasad Sreeram, Co-Founder & CEO, COGOS said, “We at COGOS have always believed that the logistics sector is incomplete without having women in all departments. The growth of women in the sector can only be triggered by valuing diversity and promoting its scope which shall, in turn, add innovation and new perceptions to the business. Change in culture is of utmost importance for us and it permeates from top to bottom where every member understands the important role women play in the growth of the company. We are glad to have Vandana on board with us who will help us bring this change.”
On joining COGOS Vandana Mazumdar said, “With the kind of opportunities the logistics industry offers as of today, having women in logistics is extremely important. I am happy to join COGOS which aims at creating this difference and giving equal opportunity to women entrepreneurs. We are here to support talented and energetic women by fostering a culture where women are provided with various platforms to develop themselves. We aim at creating a safe, women-oriented culture along with work-life balance initiatives.”
Last year in September, COGOS raised their pre-series A funding and earlier in June 2021 they became the pioneer to announce EV adoption in the logistics business. The company is currently very active at hiring across verticals. They have over 50 open positions, in the Tech, Operations and Sales departments.
