Checking in from Sahayata Microfinance

I’m in middle of the third week of my stint at Sahayata Microfinance in Jaipur in India. Sahayata Microfinance is probably the most well established MFI running in the state of Rajasthan right now. My internship involves two main projects. The first (the one I’m more excited about) is conducting a study of the social impact of the loans given out by Sahayata. This project has given me access to pretty much all of the branches of Sahayata in Jaipur (they have 4 apart from their regional office), and lets me accompany FCOs out on their trips to meet women receiving loans and interview them. The second project (that chains me to the desk in the evenings) involves conducting a competition scan of MFIs operating in the states that Sahayata is planning to expand its operations.

The interesting thing that you pick up almost immediately while working at this organization is that because its been set up and is being run by people with decades of experience in the professional banking sector, there is a considerable amount of attention paid towards developing efficient work practices and procedures. In a volume driven industry like microfinance, setting up efficient and scalable practices seems pretty much key to success. The training and screening process for Field Collection Officers (FCOs) itself has such an obvious impact on the quality of work that is carried out on the field.

So far the experience has been pretty much amazing. I’m learning an incredible amount about how microfinance works on the ground level. More pictures and stories on that to follow:)