Hey there!

It’s Sparsh here!👋 

Every once in a while, a story pops up that makes you rethink what’s possible, especially when it starts with a school kid and ends with a city-wide logistics revolution. 🎒 

Meet Tilak Mehta, who, at just 13, took Mumbai’s legendary dabbawala network and turned it into a same-day courier service for the digital age. If you thought your school science project was ambitious, wait till you hear what Tilak built while juggling homework. 🧑‍🎓 

Let's dive in to know more!🚀

🧠The Spark: A Personal Problem, A City-Wide Solution

For most of us, the idea of starting a company comes much later in life. But for Tilak, the inspiration struck early, born out of a simple, everyday frustration. 💡 

➡️ One day, he needed his school books from the other side of Mumbai, but his father, exhausted after a long day at work, couldn’t fetch them. 📜 

➡️ The city’s usual courier services were slow and expensive, and there wasn’t a reliable way to get small, urgent parcels delivered across town quickly. That’s when Tilak realised he wasn’t alone. 🚚 

The city needed a reliable, affordable, and fast way to send papers and parcels across town. What if there was a better way? 🤔 

💡The Big Idea: Dabbawalas, But for Everything

Mumbai’s dabbawalas are legendary for their precision and reliability. Tilak saw an opportunity: what if this network could deliver more than just lunch? 🥗 

With a little help from his father, Vishal Mehta (who worked in logistics), Tilak raised ₹25,000 as seed capital and started building what would become Papers N Parcels (PNP). 📦️ 

📲 How It Worked: Simplicity Meets Scale

Papers N Parcels was built on the backbone of Mumbai’s dabbawala network, but with a digital twist. 💻️ 

🚴‍♂️The Dabbawala Partnership

The heart of PNP’s model was its partnership with Mumbai’s dabbawalas. 🍽️

Over 300 dabbawalas joined the network, bringing with them generations of logistical expertise. For dabbawalas, this wasn’t just a new gig- it was a way to modernise their skills and earn an additional income stream. 💰

• Dabbawalas received fixed salaries and, in later phases, performance incentives💵

• The partnership leveraged their unmatched knowledge of Mumbai’s transport system🚚

• It helped preserve and adapt a celebrated tradition for a new era🔄

This blend of old and new made PNP a standout in the city’s crowded logistics landscape. 🚀

📈 Growth and Impact

➡️ At its peak, Papers N Parcels was handling over 1,200 deliveries a day, serving everyone from students and professionals to local businesses.

➡️ The company employed over 200 people directly, not counting its dabbawala partners.

🌟 What’s Tilak Mehta Doing Now?

Now in his early 20s, he continues to serve as the CEO and chief innovator at Papers N Parcels, steering the company’s evolution even as the original app-based service has paused operations.👨🏻‍💻