Bykea committed to its CSR activities during lockdown

KARACHI: BYKEA - Pakistan’s largest network of motorbikes for transport, logistics & payments announced steps to facilitate citizens as urban Pakistan went into a lockdown amid COVID-19 fears.

30,000 monthly active drivers working as gig workers were forced to stay home at onset, as city administrations banned all on-demand companies and shut all retail markets including restaurant take-aways.

As news spread of COVID-19 spreading in China in February, Bykea started to distribute face masks to all its driver partners and its 200 employees. Hand sanitizer dispensers were placed at all exits and outside franchise operations.

By early March, as schools and government offices shuttered, the company started distributing hand sanitizers from manufacturers at cost to citizens via its fleet and delivered a few thousand hand sanitizer orders.

By the second week of March, the company had started to mandate employees on work from home drills, leveraging collaborative tools like Slack, Google Docs, Sheets and Hangouts and by week two, all staff were working from home.

Strict guidance was shared with the fleet on standard operating procedures around hygiene, mandatory face masks, gloves and distancing around Bykea’s delivery capabilities.By the middle of March, cities in Pakistan, particularly Karachi, went into a complete lockdown, and all on-demand services were suspended from operations. In this unprecedented move, city administration also banned deliveries, and for a week, the most vulnerable daily wagers lost their only source of income.

As the lockdown prevailed towards the end of March, Bykea announced a relief fund of 7 million Pakistani Rupees and commenced disbursement through mobile money channels to its top performers whose daily earnings were most impacted.****