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Two years, twenty two hundred borrowers and eleven million rupees
Two years, twenty two hundred borrowers and eleven million rupees disbursed in a country of 1.2 billion people. We know that we haven’t even scratched the surface. |
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Leaving infancy behind, Rang De members across the country met on their second anniversary, 26 January and found ways to spread the colours of joy.
The Bangalore chapter organised a march Blog along MG road. Forming two groups they fanned out from M.G. road and spoke to people about Rang De. The responses varied from scepticism to “what an idea”, and our volunteers used various approaches to get the attention of passers by.
The Mumbai chapter organised two separate meets at different locations in the city to ensure maximum participation, while the Hyderabad and Chennai chapters met and discussed future strategies. Get the detailed account at RangDe Blog
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How much loan is enough? Smita mulls on the question and searches for answers….
This pertinent question was raised by Ms.Waheeda Rehman to a group of women micro-entrepreneurs in Nagpur, during her field trip with Rang De.
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All the women that she met had been funded by Rang De and many had gone on to take their second loan. Ms Rehman asked the women just how much money they would require as loans to fulfil their needs. Would there be a point of time when they would not need any more loans and could manage their business without monetary aid?
While some of the women said that 50K would take their businesses to the next level, most were unsure. The kind of businesses that these women are involved in is so small that, they know there is potential. However, if they take on larger loans, they are not confident that they can repay their own loan and at the same time give a guarantee towards other people's loans. Hence, they are in a catch- 22 situation.
I guess there is no one straight answer to this question. We will need a multi pronged approach to help the women graduate from borrowing from us to becoming a customer of a bank. But somewhere down the line, what needs to be driven home quite strongly is that endless borrowing defeats the very purpose of providing loans – self reliance.
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Sorely missed
Rang De will miss Sunil Iyer who passed away in the Carlton Towers tragedy at Bangalore. He was an enthusiastic volunteer brimming with ideas. Although many from the Rang De team were still to meet him, he left an indelible impression and we salute his spirit.
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How many Sripurs in India?
One sunny Sunday morning Dinesh and Tejan, two of our Kolkata chapter members set off on a journey to discover microcredit at the grassroots level. What they uncovered was much more.more »
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How many Sripurs in India?
One sunny Sunday morning Dinesh and Tejan, two of our Kolkata chapter members set off on a journey to discover microcredit at the grassroots level. What they uncovered was much more.
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Two hours and two modes of transport took the enthusiastic duo to our field partner’s office (Swami Vivekananda Welfare Society, Sripur –SVWSS). After familiarising themselves with the organisation and its activities they headed for the village Gayenpada, Nalua to interact with the borrowers of Rang De first hand.
The joy of the borrowers who had received their first loan through Rang De was evident and even contagious. The low interest rates and the prospect of being able to break free from the clutches of the moneylenders and middle men were the main plus points that they saw.
Next on the agenda was an interaction with a prospective borrower group. Similar occupations, similar people and lifestyles, but the smiles of the earlier group were replaced with searching looks. “Will we get a loan too?” they seemed to ask?
Soon they were making their way back to Kolkata, but with even more questions on their mind. Do the poor deserve to be exploited like this? Isn’t this the picture of many of our villages? Can we not collectively do something about this? How many more Sripurs are there in India?
Read the moving account of Dinesh and Tejan’s experience in their own words at Ran De Blog
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Rang De And The Bollywood Connection
With Smita making so many trips to Mumbai for various events, it seemed only inevitable, that Rang De would soon be connected to Bollywood.
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It all started when the DNA newspaper carried an article on Rang De and it got the attention of Ms. Waheeda Rehman. The renowned actress made a call to our office and expressed her desire to learn more about how Rang De worked. A few more discussions and soon Smita was off with Waheedaji on a field trip to meet borrowers at Nagpur.
Get a detailed account of the trip at Rang DE Blog
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Rang De in Mangalore?
Yes! Akash Kukreja is all set to start a chapter in Mangalore. Here he recounts how Rang De and its use of the oxymoron ’Social Investor’ sparked his curiosity. more »
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Rang De in Mangalore?
Yes! Akash Kukreja is all set to start a chapter in Mangalore. Here he recounts how Rang De and its use of the oxymoron ’Social Investor’ sparked his curiosity.
My association with Rang De began on a casual Friday evening. After returning from an exhausting day at work, but refreshed at the thought of a great weekend ahead, I switched on my laptop to connect with my friends on facebook. Once I was done with the regular stuff that we do on facebook, I started fooling around looking for something that could next hog my attention on the information superhighway. And Voila! There it was - a colorful and creatively designed logo which caught my attention from the word go. I read around it – Rangde, become a social investor the advertisement said. Hmmm… My curiosity lead by the words 'social' and 'investment' which when put together still sound like an oxymoron to many. I clicked on the link and the world of Rang De unfolded before me at rangde.org.
To convince myself that it is indeed a great startup - I thoroughly went through each and every page, the FAQs, even the videos where Ram and Smita talk about Rang De and introduce us to a few borrowers and how the loan impacted their lives and there I was - a firm believer in the cause of microcredit and how these small loans can lead to upliftment of poverty in India. I readily browsed through profiles of a few borrowers and then clicked on the link to contribute my bit to the cause and invested a small amount after which I got a few automated confirmation mails from Rang De. I checked my watch and phew!, I had spent a good hour and a half doing all this, but then came the feeling that it was time well spent and the weekend started on a positive note for me.
A few days went by, I forgot about my investment until, I received a mail from Rang De stating that the loan amount was disbursed to the chosen borrower and indicating the repayment schedule of my investment.
Once again, a few months went by until I received a mail from Smita, about how we could contribute something extra to the cause of Rang De in addition to being a social investor, by starting a new chapter in our city. A brilliant idea!!, was the first thought that popped in my head and without any delay I hit the ‘reply’ button contemplating on how to draft a mail which sounded convincing to start a new chapter in Mangalore. I was in office that time around and buried neck deep in work, I could not think of a lot of convincing points, so I just mailed her short details of how my employment with Infosys got me to Mangalore and expressing interest in starting a chapter here. I also mentioned in the last line (in case she needed any convincing) as to why we should not underestimate Mangalore for having a chapter here. It later turned out, that Smita herself is a big Mangalore fan.
I remained dormant about this for a few weeks after which I received a reminder mail from Smita. Thus it all began, when I started thinking of roping in a few colleagues and other like minded individuals for this cause. I posted a mail in my company's bulletin board initiating others to the concept of microfinance and how Rang De is involved and finally stating that a few volunteers were needed. I wasn't left disappointed, as the mail got quite a few people interested who mailed me.
This led to our first meeting in our food court. We can call it the first Mangalore chapter volunteers meet, where Anurag, Anirudh and Jitin turned up, all enthusiastic about the concept of microfinance and here we poured in our two cents about Rang De. We have in our team Anurag, who has been part of quite a few social initiatives (found the Rang De website splendidly done), Anirudh and Jitin who are raring to go as this is their first involvement with a social cause. All of us are actively thinking of ways to move forward, get more volunteers and spread the cause of Rang De.
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Botanical gardens and Microcredit – A winning combination!!
Our Hyderabad chapter is well underway with Aishwarya Mishra leading the group. They decided to have their second chapter meeting at the Botanical garden, Kondapur.
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An informal setting seemed just what the doctor ordered and ideas and plans flew faster than the birds around. Field trips and ways to garner support for Rang De were the main topics of discussion. Bharathi takes us through the meet at Rangde
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Bangalore runs away –with new ideas.
Our Bangalore chapter is always on the look out for new ways to spread awareness about Rang De. This time around they partnered with FOTS (Feet on the street) for a five kilometer run for beginners. more »
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Bangalore runs away –with new ideas.
Our Bangalore chapter is always on the look out for new ways to spread awareness about Rang De. This time around they partnered with FOTS (Feet on the street) for a five kilometer run for beginners.
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FOTS is an initiative of Runners for Life (RFL), and organises a monthly run to initiate people into running and supports a cause along the way- this time, Rang De.
Early morning walkers and joggers were already in full swing at Cubbon Park at 6.15 in the morning, and soon people gathered for the FOTS run. A quick overview of Rang De and the run was flagged off with 53 participants at 7a.m. At the end of the run, many wanted to know more about Rang De and how it worked. Rang De experience vouchers were handed out for them to get a first hand feel. Later in the day we found that a few had already used their experience vouchers and a couple of new investors.
“Mission accomplished” is what we think. A few more people introduced to micro credit and Rang De and it’s far reaching effects.
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Corporate Connections
We welcome into our fold two new corporate connections, Vernalis Systems and The Muthoot Papacchan group.
Vernalis Systems is a global IT Services Company and the Muthoot Papacchan Group has diverse interests in the financial services, hospitality, automobiles and power generation.
The common thread that runs through these companies and Rang De is the zeal to make a difference to the underprivileged.
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Rang De’s First Field Partner Meet
The first, Rang De field partner meet was held at Mahabalipuram in the second week of December. The travel arrangements and coordination of events were brilliantly organised by Diksha and around 40 participants from across the country congregated to discuss, review and plan the future role of partnerships with Rang De. The initial icebreaker session led to more serious discussions and presentations by various partners and informative sessions with Water.org and the Pan IIT foundation.
It was also the first time that many of our own team members met each other and it also allowed us to put a face to the voices we were hearing.
Our partners also made a resolution to promote the cause of Rang De. Read more on the Rang De field partner meet here.
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Social Investors Rise To The Occasion
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As Hope IRDS in Kurnool worked to bring normalcy in the area, after the floods, we at Rang De began to inform our social investors of a possible default in repayments and simultaneously launched a campaign to raise funds for the victims.
The response from our Social Investors was "Loan repayments can come later. How can we help them now?" The amount collected was forwarded to HOPE and the major chunk came from one single individual, who does not wish to be named. When we asked him what made him feel for the needy as he did, this is what he had to say:
"I am thankful to a lot of good and excellent human beings who have helped me to develop and be what I am today, emotionally, financially and otherwise:
- My maternal grandfather, who at the age of 85 used to walk 5 kilometers to the University to get a Degree Certificate for a friend’s grandson
- A late maternal uncle, (a Doctor), who spent long hours treating the poor, until the very end, without bothering about the money he was getting, or the pain that he was in, as cancer ravaged his body
- A friend who had helped various people at different junctures of their lives (studies, marriages, house construction etc.) and whose life was cut short a year ago
- A boy, who came out of his house and gave me a towel so that I could dry up, whilst I waited drenched in their verandah, on the highway
- A woman, who gave me Sambar Rice for nothing when I was on a Grameena Bank audit and had nothing to eat in a village
- All those helpers in my fathers office, who took us out on their bicycles and told us stories and happenings in the villages, which helped us learn a lot about life in childhood
- Several other human beings who were totally selfless in their lives or at the point of interaction with us
My contributions to Rang De and the Kurnool flood victims are to satisfy myself and thank all those individuals who helped me along. If we could do even a part of what all those Good Human Beings have done..."
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Aditya Shembekar’s experience of a lifetime
A social investor turned volunteer speaks about his experience on a field visit to some of our borrowers:
"I was one of a team of seven that headed to T. Narsipura one weekend in July. I had been fascinated by the Rang De concept and was one of their social investors. I expressed a desire to visit some borrowers and this was the trip that I joined as Rang De was doing their evaluation rounds.
We met the first borrower, a woman who seemed to have her fingers in several pies. Her husband worked at a factory close by and she worked at the local post office. In her spare time she conducts tuition classes for some of the neighbourhood children and also does odd tailoring jobs. The loan received from Rang De was used to buy additional materials needed to expand this tailoring business and she seemed satisfied that it was working well for her. Time management at its best!!
We knew that our second evaluation was a disaster from the word go. The borrower seemed totally in the dark about the loan and we had to probe further and make enquiries with many of her neighbours to unravel the mystery. Anusuya’s story has now become a learning point for Rang De too.
The other evaluations went off smoothly and soon we were on our way back. What amazes me to this day is the transparency with which Rang De operates and their frank admission of their problems. Besides, the experience of being able to meet these borrowers and getting a first hand feel of how seemingly small sums of money can have such a huge impact on someone’s life is something I will cherish for a long time to come."
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Milestones |
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| Borrowers Impacted : 2641 |
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| Social Investors : 1083 |
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| Loans Raised : Rs 1,30,61,000 |
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| Loans Repaid : Rs. 68,12,942 |
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| Repayment Rate : 98.9% |
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Upcoming Events |
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Get a breath of fresh –Oxygen |
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Rang De in association with Zoho is organising its first ever event in Chennai. A live concert with Oxygen - A fusion band with invigorating music is all set to enthral you. Check how it all began http://blog.rangde.org/2010/03/ and gained momentum. So block the 13th of March on you calendar, Grab your tickets at Indianstage.in right now and get your weekend off to a great start at the Shivagami Pettachi Hall, Alwarpet,Chennai.
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Rang De Spreads its Wings |
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We now have active Rang De chapters in Bangalore, Delhi, and Mumbai, whilst Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Pune have had their kick off calls and are busy discussing their plan of action. Rumblings can also be heard from Bhubaneshwar and Chennai and will shortly be joining in the common mission to spread the cause of Rang De
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| Heard of Raghurajpur? Our newest set of borrowers comes from this small village in Puri, Orissa. So what is special about Raghurajpur? A village with just a hundred odd homes has the unique distinction of housing more than 300 artisans, with at least one artisan, in every household. |
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The art forms are handed down from generation to generation. They include painting on palm leaf or treated cloth called Patachitra and the artists themselves are known as Chitrakars. Some of the other art forms practised are, wood carving, stone carving and papier mache. Phew!Close
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Write to us at info@rangde.org |
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Talk to us at +91-44-42121919 |
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Visit us at www.rangde.org |
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