Vikram Akula – SKS Microfinance

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

Vikram Akula, CEO of SKS Microfinance, tells Global X how he designed a microfinance institution in a way that "you never have to say no to any poor person who is simply asking for an opportunity."
 
After working for an NGO, he went back to the University of Chicago to get his PhD and found out that the best way to scale was to:

1- Use a for-profit approach to access capital
2- Draw from best practices from the business world to overcome the constraints of capacity
3- Leverage technology to overcome the constraints of cost

And that’s how SKS Microfinance was able to scale so quickly and now serves 1.5 million clients in India.

While in Zurich, Vikram Akula also shared a piece of advice with Global X: "Think big! Think in a way that has never been done!" It is undoubtedly because his goal was initially to eradicate poverty that he was able to achieve so much.