Urmee Mehta Mankar – Swadhaar

Victor "Global X" d'Allant
Former Executive Director, Social Edge

Global X interviews Urmee Mehta Mankar, with Mumbai-based microfinance institution Swadhaar (Self Support). Even though this microfinance institution is quite young (it was launched only two years ago), there is lot to be learned from this interview.

You may want to pay attention to Urmee at 2’27" into this interview, when she recommends to "get out into the field and learn about the market reality." Before launching Swadhaar, Urmee and her CEO spent a year in several slums in Mumbai to find out what Swadhaar’s potential customers really needed.

To their own surprise, they found out that women were willing to pay higher interest rates but didn’t want to work in groups and be held responsible for other’s financial situations. Her advice: "Go out and understand the market!"

Urmee then tells Global X a very moving story, one that involves a 12-year old boy who was selling tissue paper boxes at a Mumbai intersection. Urmee was fascinated by his sense of pride when he told her: "I am not begging, I am doing my job!"

She concludes: "This is typical of the spirit of the people that we are trying to help. He has become my mascot!"

Watch this short interview then read the Unitus case study.