ALLEPPEY: Malayalee's own 'LILO' with a distribution network to bring home food from their customer's favourite hotels. Not only food but also fish, meat and milk will be delivered. Joy Sebastian and his friends from Cherthala, who beat all other young entrepreneurs in the country to first place in the innovation challenge of the central government, are the brains behind this.

Joy Sebastian, son of Sebastian and Mary, a fisherman in Alappuzha Mararikulam South Panchayat, knows the value of labour. That is why he made sure that the agreement ensured job stability and minimum wages for staff including the delivery agents. At present the service is only in Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha. It has been decided to expand the operation to the whole of Kerala at the beginning of the new year itself.

'LILO' was developed in collaboration with friends and foreign Malayalis from Chengannur and Kollam.

Zonal Startup

In each zone, various youth start-ups will be responsible for order and delivery. Typical online food delivery startup platforms charge 25 to 35 percent commission. Their decision is to charge only 10 to 15 percent.

Motivation for food distribution?

In 2009, Joy Sebastian started an IT firm called Techgentsia at Infopark Cherthala after completing his MCA degree from TKM College of Engineering, Kollam. Techgentsia conducts research and development activities in the video conferencing domain for companies in Europe, US and Asia. They stood first in the Central Government's Innovation Challenge in 2020 in this regard. The winner was found in three stages from around 2000 companies in the country. Techgentsia's victory was given to them by 'Vconsol". Its success is what inspired them to enter the food delivery sector. LILO stands for Live Local E-Commerce Pvt. Ltd.

LILO's mission is to ensure minimum wages for employees and provide products to consumers at the lowest possible prices.

- Joy Sebastian,

CEO Techgentsia