Kolkata: Parents usually measure their teenage children on the basis of academics and co-curriculars, but hardly are young adults ever encouraged to start a business of their own. Yashraj Singh, a recent pass out of St. Xavier’s Collegiate School, Kolkata started a car wash business after his Class 12 board exams.

Yashraj, 18 and armed with his new driver’s license, often faced the problem of an unclean car each time he wanted to go out. Either the washer had not cleaned the car at all or had left parts unclean. As a resident of New Alipore, Yashraj observed that a lot of car owners faced the same problem. In this age of Uber, many neighbours own cars but do not have personal drivers.
They have to depend on the building guard or others for daily car cleaning.

The main problem was that the washers were irregular and not dependable. “Right now there is no app or technology to tell us if the car has been washed today and at what time”, said the 18 year old Yashraj. “I wanted to find a way where the car owner can know and track if the car has been washed or not. We pay a monthly fee to the washers but they still miss work and they don’t do their best job unless we get it done in front of us.”

To solve this problem, Yashraj has tried to organise an unorganised sector locally. He has tied up with car washers in the area who provide a 7-day car wash service to the registered owners and send them a picture of the car once cleaned. Yashraj earns a cut from the monthly fee. In return, the owners get a consistent and clean service and the washers don’t have to worry about getting more business. The proceeds are also used to up-skill and benefit the washers.

“This has taken a load off us. It’s one less chore to worry about every morning. We don’t have to chase our washer now, we are very happy with the service”, said a customer Megha Malhotra.