Mumbai Dabbawalas as Incubators for Social Entrepreneurs

This paper explores the ways in which Mumbai Dabbawalas operations can act as a model example to incubate and accelerate social entrepreneurship in Bangalore. Their delivery model has sustained for more than 130 years and their delivery standards were found to be better than six sigma level of excellence. The food delivery men make only one error in 6 million transactions. They adopt green logistics measures to deliver what the customer wants and believe that service to customers is akin to serving God. They have a strong sense of community orientation and the simplicity of their operations has made them endure for so long. However, the sweeping changes in India post-globalization has somewhat dented the demand for their services. Growing urbanization, influence of Western culture, services led industrialization and high levels of disposable incomes have made people opt for a wider variety of food services available today. Despite the above setbacks and competition for the business, the Mumbcli Dabbawalas stand apart and are known for their service delivery excellence and social entrepreneurship. The paper makes an attempt to utilize the rich repertoire of experiences of the Mumbai Dabbawalas which can be gainfully applied for mentoring the aspiring social entrepreneurs in the field. This research has developed propositions in support of the argument that the Mumbai Dabbawalas can be effective incubators for aspiring social entrepreneurs. The objective of the paper is to propose a conceptual model by which the Mumbai Dabbawalas can successfully incubate social enterprises.