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Article

20 Sep 2017

Author:
Ben Schiller, Fast Company

Roshni Rides wins $1 million prize for developing rickshaw-based shuttle network in refugee camps; aims to spread economic opportunity to Pakistani slum

"This Rickshaw-Hailing Service for Refugee Camps Just Won a $1 Million Prize," 18 September 2017

This year’s Hult Prize, which was focused on tech for refugees this year, gave its prize to Roshni Rides, which is attempting to bring better transportation to Orangi Town, Karachi slum [in Pakistan] that houses more than 2 million refugees...

A Pakistani-American team from Rutgers University has won this year’s $1 million Hult Prize, a high profile, global contest for student social entrepreneurs. The company, called Roshni Rides, is developing a rickshaw-based shuttle network for refugees camps, hoping to spread economic opportunity to groups disenfranchised by their location and a lack of other transport options...

Up to 1 billion people worldwide are now displaced from their homes, estimates show. That includes both forced migrants from countries like Syria as well as long-term refugees, like Palestinians living in Jordan... Roshni Rides wants to recruit under-employed rickshaw drivers to service fixed routes–for instance, between Orangi and nearby schools, clinics, and businesses. It cuts the cost of conventional rickshaw journeys by filling vehicles with more than one passenger and employing drivers on its own terms... Roshni Rides is aimed particularly at women who feel uncomfortable sharing crowded buses with men and who can’t afford to hire rides in their own rickshaws... Roshni plans to use the $1 million to do more market research, to recruit drivers and to set up a base of operations...