Identified as a simple, fast and safe Cuban courier business, Mandao came to fulfill a clear purpose within the national entrepreneurial scene. Its creators wanted to cover their own needs: to send and receive documents without having to move throughout the city. They thought other businesses could share this concern, and so in September 2016 they officially started operations, with the intention of covering more than just paperwork.
For this team, transforming the concept of the old man with his carrier bags leaving the local store as a popular image of “doing the errands” has come to represent a service with broad social responsibility, since its main customers are producers and centers that control the entire process of what they offer, with many promoting the concepts of Farm-to-table and Slow Food, committed to local, ecological businesses that collaborate with the community.
One thing that must be clarified is that Mandao does not market goods, it only transports them, and for this it places its trust in its couriers who, equipped with comfortable backpacks with thermal compartments, guarantee the quality of products, ensuring the delivery of any item in optimal conditions, which also guarantees sender confidence.
Emulating Hermes, collaborating couriers travel every corner of the Cuban capital in their own vehicles, mainly bicycles and electric motorcycles, making their deliveries in an average of fifteen minutes. The goods they transport range from television sets to air conditioning to flowers. Any product, except money and postal services, which are limited by law, can be delivered.
As a strong commitment of Mandao and a fundamental part of its business structure, its couriers must not only arrive on time at their destination, but it is vital that they have a smart appearance and address customers correctly, maintaining respect and good manners, identified as essential values that the company defends and the brand advertises. This is achieved through the training of employees and periodic feedback, spaces where they can learn how to improve customer service, as well voice their own concerns.
To cover the entire range of goods delivered to every corner of Havana, the Mandao team is in the process of developing a mobile application, to grant visibility and promote entrepreneurs, which will serve to offer their products and manage all distribution.
The expansion and growth of this business is guided by the incorporation of ethical standards, where legality is considered a matter of utmost importance, including declaring the lawful origin of all products distributed, and the employment of workers and collaborators with the proper licenses. In addition, by promoting respect, inclusion, tolerance and generating trust among its members and customers, Mandao is transformed daily into a corporate entity dedicated to updating what was once an errand.