“Kindly do not write them off as dumb or people with hearing impairment, they are just deaf,” comes the polite but firm request from the CEO and founder of Mirakle Couriers, Dhruv Lakra. “The word dumb has a negative connotation,” explains Dhruv, an MBA in social entrepreneurship from Said Business School, Oxford University.
Here, we are not telling a story of a young man who climbed the corporate ladder and made it big, instead we are telling a story of a man who gave it all up to lend a helping hand to the disabled. Mirakle Couriers, a venture started by Dhruv, is a courier company with a difference as it employs only deaf adults. All the 50 staff members including delivery personnel are deaf. Deaf men do the package delivery, while deaf women work on package sorting.
Founded in January 2009, when he was 28, Dhruv describes his company as a ‘For-Profit Social Enterprise.’ A destined encounter (we can say that for sure) with a deaf person while travelling on a bus in Mumbai and his struggle to do a simple chore (for the rest of us )of travelling from one place to another is what it took for this sensitive man to start the thinking process. Over the next few months Dhruv spent time exploring the situation of the deaf and learning Indian Sign Language. He focused on a courier business because it requires a lot of visual skills but no verbal communication. “The deaf are extremely good at map reading, remembering roads and buildings because they are so visually inclined,” said Dhruv. “There is very little public sympathy for the deaf, and by connection, a severe lack of government support for them in India. Particularly when it comes to employment, there are no opportunities because no one has the patience or the foresight to learn sign language,” he said, adding, “This is how Mirakle Couriers was born.”
And then we pop him the question about the big ‘M’. Is ‘Money’ not important for him? “Of course it is, but it is not the only important thing in the world,” came the honest reply. “Plus my company is a profitable venture,” he added.
After receiving many awards and recognition, including the 2009 Hellen Keller award and the 2010 National Award for the Empowerment of People with Disabilities, Dhruv, who runs it like any other company (of course, the sensitivities of his employees is always on his mind) want to expand horizons and open branches in Pune and Nashik soon.
There are an estimated 8 million deaf adults in India. Of them, only 67% find employment. “ I will reach out to as many as I can ,” said Dhruv, and we know he will.