Bizongo is India’s largest B2B platform for made-to-order products with a mission of digitally transforming the super fragmented and unorganized segment of unbranded goods.

Aarfa Shaikh is the Senior Manager for People Success at Bizongo. She leads the learning and organizational development initiatives at Bizongo and works on talent management for the firm’s 250 employees, distributed across the country.‍

ICU bed. Oxygen. Remdesivir
Almost every time Aarfa’s phone rang in April 2021, a frantic employee was on the other end. The second wave of the pandemic was at its peak, and people were losing their loved ones due to lack of timely access to ICU Beds, Oxygen, Remdesivir, etc., for the Covid-19 treatment. With victims and their families reaching out to everyone they know, including their employers, for assistance, the HR Team at Bizongo also experienced a similar inflow of calls from their employees.

‍Humans have limitations as individuals
‍Wanting to help every employee in distress, Aarfa tried her best to reach out to everyone in her limited contact list for any possible assistance. While some leads that she was able to obtain were qualified, some weren’t. And qualifying each lead on her own was delaying the process, especially when lives were at stake.

‍United we stand, on Empuls
Trusting the strength of the Bizongo employee community, she created a “Bizongo COVID Support” page on the Empuls Platform. She requested employees to shout out for help, share any information or leads, and exchange experiences to help their peers, all on Empuls.
And within a short period, more than half of Bizongo's employees had joined the "Bizongo COVID Support" group.

"In less than a week, together, we were able to help at least 4 employees in dire need of assistance."

‍A united, prompt, and quality crisis response
What would have taken weeks for the victims and families to get started on their Covid-19 treatment was now available faster with assistance from the active support system formed by Bizongo's employees on Empuls.

"An employee staying home alone under isolation was provided with meals by other employees of the organization staying in close vicinity to her."

From access to medicine, transportation, and donors, requirements of all types were now getting fulfilled at a quick pace. An urgent requirement for Remdesivir was delivered at 2 am. The request for a plasma donor, needed by 3 pm, was successfully fulfilled ahead of time at 12 pm. An employee's father was transferred from a remote location to a hospital in the city within three hours.

‍The determination of one turned into a support system of hundreds
This "Bizongo COVID Support" page on Empuls helped numerous employees during the second wave of the pandemic and continues to help them gain rapid access to all types of medical requirements. The determination of one person to help her peers has now turned into a concerned community of hundreds continuing to support each other every day with Empuls.