Amazon will offer a special grant to enable aspiring entrepreneurs from under-represented communities to join its Delivery Service Partner (DSP) programme in India.
This ‘diversity’ grant will provide financial assistance to women, persons with disability (PwD) and members of the LGBTQIA+ community, who aspire to be entrepreneurs, so that some of their expenses in setting up a business are taken care of.
Under this DSP programme, entrepreneurs interested in starting their own delivery business will be allowed access to Amazon’s sophisticated delivery technology, and receive hands-on training and also benefit from exclusively-negotiated deals on various services including payroll management, insurance and recruitment technology.
It is not necessary for these aspiring entrepreneurs to possess any prior logistics experience to be eligible for the grant. In fact, the Company will try and eliminate all obstacles that prevent entrepreneurs — especially those from underrepresented communities— from starting their own businesses.
Almost $7 million will be invested in this programme by Amazon, globally, to support entrepreneurs.
The programme has, since its launch in the country, helped SMBs to grow and has enabled Amazon to expand its delivery network and reach the remote areas of India.
“We are pleased to offer a special grant to women and other underrepresented communities joining the programme to evolve the entrepreneurship ecosystem in logistics. Amazon’s mission is to be earth’s most customer-centric company, and this mission is central to our work in diversity, equity and inclusion,” said Karuna Shankar Pande, director, Amazon Logistics, India.
For most delivery service partners, especially women, the experience of becoming a successful entrepreneur, in the form of a DSP has been very enriching. Amazon has managed to provide them “with all the required knowledge, training and skills to build a strong business foundation.”
Amazon India now has over 350 entrepreneurs as part of the program, with more opportunities for diverse partners to build their own businesses. Over the years, the DSP network has managed to set up over 1,000 delivery stations around the world, and has expanded to over 14 countries, including the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Brazil, the Netherlands, India, Belgium and Austria. Recently, it was launched in Saudi Arabia, the first country in the Middle East where the DSP programme operates.
