Tilak Mehta began his business, “Paper and Parcels” at 16 years old. He lives in Mumbai in India and his idea sprouted the day he needed books from the other side of the city, but his father was at work. He didn’t want to bother his father, so he had to wait for to get the book delivered, which proved to have heavy fees. Tilak had known of different food delivery services existed for food; however, even those were expensive. Tilak brainstormed a business that could help people get the resources they need without having to travel across the city. He knew that it was possible because of different food service systems; however, he hadn’t seen one that delivered non-food related things. He took an idea that was already in place and very successful, but he altered it to fit his problem. With help from some of the ‘Mumbaikar dabbawala’ (food delivery service workers) his business began to boom. His goal is to have a delivery service for anything from pens, books, papers, and essential documents. The Intra City Logistics market invested into “Paper and Parcels” and Tilak’s business is really growing. We can learn from Tilak that having a support system and a goal can do big things.
I love how he used an existing idea to solve a new problem. He didn’t start from scratch, he just had to build upon what was there which is a great way to find and solve problems. It’s so cool to see the way young people tackle problems and optimize on existing resources.
This is interesting that he took a spin on an existing market and even cooperated with existing markets to create a quick delivery service for what he and many others like him need.