Gratitude

I have especially enjoyed working with young girls in the slums of Delhi. They are living well below the poverty line but still have smiles on their faces. They are easily excited by pictures of Bollywood stars and will giggle uncontrollably for the simplest of reasons. In India it becomes painfully apparent that we do not chose to whom or where we are born. These girls have so much potential, but are limited by their circumstances.

I loved learning about the power and opportunity that microfinance creates for the working poor. Upon my return to San Francisco, I will continue volunteering my time with an MFI. 

I have visited India so many times, but I feel like this was my first immersion into the soul of India. I am grateful for the experience, touched by the people, and leave with fond memories. 

Jasmine Espresso Presents to SVCL

Today Jasmine Espresso (my consulting team) presented our recommendations to SVCL. Here is a link to our presentation with our analysis and recommendations.  

Chris and Sudhakar were incredible team mates. We enjoyed working together learning the in's and out's of Microfinance in India. Now that we have completed this project, Team Jasmine Espresso is working with Bankers Without Borders to identify an organization where we can add value through a board member position. 

Chak de India!

I had an incredible weekend in Amritsar starting with a visit to the Harmandir Sahib or commonly called the Golden Temple. There are four entrances to the Golden Temple, symbolizing the openness of the Sikh religion and welcoming people of all backgrounds. 

After receiving blessings at the Golden Temple, we made our way to the Wagah Border. The India/Pakistan border is one of the most contentious borders on earth and is lit so brightly it can be seen from space. Every evening there is a changing of the guards ceremony on both the Pakistan and India sides with thousands of people cheering and a huge display of nationalism. The energy from the crowd and the guards was contagious making for an extremely memorable experience. 

MAD: Make A Difference

Twice a week, I have been volunteering at Arya Anathalya, an orphanage in Darya Gang, Old Delhi. An organization called MAD (Make a Difference) has a Library Project at the orphanage where volunteers work with kids on English reading and comprehension. The Library Project is run completely by an impressive group of dedicated college age volunteers. These volunteers are engaging and really inspire the kids. 

Every session starts with a presentation showcasing someone who has over come adversity (ie. Stephen Hawking, Nelson Mandela, Anne Frank) encouraging the kids to dream big. We then form smaller groups where volunteers help the kids read and understand story books. The kids are engaged and excited for their turn to read. I am impressed with the kids level of English and their curiosity. Initially, I definitely did not give them enough credit. They ask great questions and are eager to learn. The level of respect the kids give the teachers is really touching. I will miss being called Sonia Ma'am!

Mobile Banking - Keep it simple

The population of India is 1.2BN with 800MM people living under the poverty line. Poverty has not stopped a staggering 80% of India's population from owning a cell phone. As of July 2012, there are 929MM active mobile phone subscribers. Most subscribers use a post pay model, where users visit corner markets to 'top-up' cell phones on a regular basis. 

Eko is a company that leverages existing retail shops, mobile connectivity, and banking infrastructure to extend financial services to the poor. Customers can go to an Eko certified retailer to open savings accounts, make deposits/withdrawals, send money to any part of India, and receive money from any part of the world. All transactions are made through mobile phones via text messaging and USSD technology, which enables basic feature phones to make a transaction.

The business model is simple:  The mobile connectivity partner charges the end user a fee of roughly 2% per transaction. The connectivity partner provides Eko with a revenue share percentage of ~0.7% which is used to cover costs including payment to the retailer. 

To date, Eko has processed $30MM in transactions with just 1600 locations. Most transactions are sub INR 10,000. Eko has aggressive goals for 2013 to increase the number of retail outlets - a huge win for individuals who otherwise wouldn't have access to financial services. 

Hindi Lessons

Seemapuri is a slum in Delhi where we are volunteering with Pardarshita, an NGO focusing on empowering the poor. As part of their mission, Pardarshita has weekly sessions for volunteers to teach slum kids. During my trip to Seemapuri, we did a tour of the slum, which was eye opening. These people are not only poor, but living in terrible living conditions that are crowded with sewage, garbage, and other filth everywhere. It was also loud, with bells ringing, kids playing, machinery being run, and god knows what else going on. Despite the horrible living conditions, the children still seem to be happy and made us feel very welcome. They seemed proud to give us a tour of their home. 

 After the tour, I lead a group of 4 girls in a basic computer literacy session. It felt odd to be focusing on computer literacy when kids living in the slum lack things that I take for granted like sewage and clean water. The girls in my group spoke zero English which gave me a great opportunity to practice my Hindi. I had them create a presentation with an introduction of themselves including their favorite color, what they want to be when they grow up, and of course their favorite Bollywood stars. The girls presented in front of the larger Pardarshita program participants. I think more than computer literacy, these girls gain a huge amount of confidence from the weekly volunteer sessions. 

The Village People

Today we visited Harpur, a village in Uttar Pradesh that is 60 km outside of Delhi. We witnessed the disbursement of funds to two women's groups funded by SVCL in addition to seeing the application process. It was so nice to meet enterprising women including Sheela Devi who is taking a loan to buy sewing machines to make and sell clothes, Virwati will be starting a corner store, and Babita is buying a rickshaw for her husband to drive. The women were shy at first, but quickly opened up and shared their hopes for the future.  

The women were incredibly warm, and one invited us into her home. Kavita had 3 buffaloes outside, 150 square feet of living space with clay floors and 50 square feet dedicated to the Mandir. She lives here with her 3 children. 

My favorite part of the village visit was definitely the children. They ran around after us all day playing, singing songs and laughing hysterically for no reason at all. It was especially touching when one of the girls asked me to promise to come back!

Deep Dive into Microfinance - Behind every successful man there is a woman

800MM people in India live under the poverty line. Microfinance banks such as Grameen Bank enable the poor to build business to become self sustaining. Those eligible for microfinance loans have no physical collateral so banks depend on social collateral to ensure loans are repaid. Here is a high level summary of the Microfinance loan process:

• - Loans are granted to women only
• - Each woman belongs to a Women's Group consisting of 5 women from their village that are not related and of similar age. Each member signs up to take on the liability of others in her group in the case of defaulted payments
• - Bank officers visit the woman's home to collect payment on a weekly basis
• - All Microfinance banks offer 1 product = 50 week loan, weekly repayment regardless of the circumstance 
• - The government of India has set a limit on interest rates for these loans at 26%. This percentage seems astronomical, but operating costs are also very high. 

Research has shown that when a woman is the source of funds in the family, there is a positive impact on their children's health, education, and she has a stronger standing in the family. These loans are used to buy buffaloes, cows, sewing machines, etc. all with the hope to put the families on a path to increased income and self sustainability.

My consulting project is with SVCL Bank which is a  joint venture between Vijay Parikh, a former American Express Executive and Sunil Sachdeva, an Indian entrepreneur. SVCL exclusively focuses on microlending and offers services in three northern states in India, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya

Pradesh and Rajasthan. 

My team of 3 is responsible for solidifying a business plan to elicit direct loan funding from corporations and individuals. 

Yamuna's Toxic Gods

Executive Director of Swechha, Vimlendu Jha's goal is to see a clean Yamuna in his lifetime. I didn't realize how ambitious this was until we visited the banks. Vimlendu is a young, passionate, leader who has dedicated his life to building programs and initiatives enabling social and environmental progress.

The Yamuna is India's primary source of water, yet to say it is polluted is an understatement. Over 60% of New Delhi's garbage ends up in the river. At the same time, the Yamuna is revered as a goddess. People pray and offer large statues of Gods into the river. These statues are made out of lead and are completely toxic. We saw a procession making such an offering during our visit.

Today we also took a boat "ride" to really see the filth described first hand. There was garbage everywhere. I saw a car pull over and throw garbage in plastic bags into the river, funeral pyres burning along the banks, holy men doing puja, and people bathing all alongside each other. We also stopped to see the junction after the Yamuna goes through the purification process - the water was completely black and smelled worse than anything I can describe. 

I do not understand how people can revere the Yamuna as a goddess, yet abuse it so terribly. Today was an incredibly heavy day. India is lucky to have change makers like Vimlendu plowing forward on his vision for a clean Yamuna river.

East vs. West

Today was day one of our intense weekend orientation. I met with SVCL and defined goals for my consulting project. We also did a host of team building exercises and cultural immersion trainings. One video shared was Devdutt Pattanaik's TED talk: East vs. West -- the myths that mystify. Pattanaik discusses how perspectives should be understood. Instead of forcing western culture in India, a third culture should be created for effective collaboration.  I highly recommend this video to anyone working across borders.

Delhi City Tour

Kicking off our time in Delhi, we had a tour of Chandni Chowk (Old Delhi) via rickshaw. What an amazing sensory experience! Our rickshaw driver was a pro at navigating narrow gullies full of pedestrians, scooters, cars, plenty of goats (today is Bakri Eid), and an occasional camel.

After the madness of Chandni Chowk, we visited the Bangla Sahib, which is one of the most prominent Gurudwaras in Delhi. It was a real treat to visit at night during prayer time.

Congratulations and Welcome to Google Reach!

I am very excited to serve as a 2012 Google Reach Fellow. I will be spending 3 weeks during Q4 in Delhi, India working with small businesses, NGOs, and entrepreneurs on development challenges.

Your application has been approved and we are excited to welcome you as one of the 15 members of the Google Reach Team!  We had amazing applicants from across the globe and feel your skills and background are what we need to make this pilot a success. We know that you are going to find this to be a life changing experience and something you will not quickly forget.
There are 3 aspects to the program: 1. Consulting project at SVCL - We will be partnering with Bankers without Borders to develop a business plan and social media strategy for SVCL's online micro-finance lending initiatives.

2. Community Outreach - Volunteering with Make A Difference at an orphanage in Delhi

3. Google Product Evangelism - Hosting a series of trainings and events that demonstrate the use of Google's Products to improve organizational efficiency and help small businesses, entrepreneurs, and non-profits

We have ambitious goals for our 3 week immersion! Prior to landing in Delhi, we will have rigorous leadership and development training. This training will also continue upon our return from India. 

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