‘Laundry Business is considered to be a repelling task for most of us as it consumes a lot of our time. But a fully mechanized set up in laundry services will totally change the equations. It will turn out to be a mechanical process rather than a domestic activity with mechanized laundry’ according to Rachana Dadiwal CEO of Corporate Dhobi Company (CDC), a Pune based Startup. A double-masters in Finance from India and abroad quit her lucrative career to fill a big gap in the hospitality sector.
Inspired by an article in Economic Times on the Laundry services provided to the star hotels in the country, and their struggles to get that premium quality from vendors. That was her Eureka moment where-in an idea struck her that changed the course of her life.
Starting from zero as having no background, It took almost 6 months to join all the pieces of the puzzle and I took the leap of faith and thus CORPORATE DHOBI COMPANY was born in August 2015’ Smiles a confident-looking Rachana in a chat with India Startup360.
‘In this male-dominated labour oriented, the unorganised industry it was initially very tough for me. No background in engineering made it even tougher. Lack of knowledge about the machines was much more difficult to chew. The Indian laundry market is dominated by small traditional dhobis and laundry stores and not well-equipped to handle the huge capital requirement. More so in the case of the hospitality sector and healthcare sectors. They have a sizable budget to get their laundry done, but it is not their core operation’ says Rachana.
However, the supply of cleaned fabric plays an important role in the Hospitality and healthcare sectors. COVID – 19 has made them think twice before taking any risk from Hygiene point of view, It is recommended that incoming laundry be tagged and left for 24 hours before handling to minimize the risk of exposure to staff. This is because viruses cannot usually survive this long on porous surfaces such as textiles. These protocols are beyond the scope of an ordinary Laundry, CDC plays a major role here.
Rachana has a very ambitious expansion plan. ‘We aim to expand to a multi-city model to make a mark in the hospitality and hospital industry. This needs proper homework and a big Team. I am working upon this during this Lockdown time’ She concludes.
