Featured Borrower Sulochana Malik from Orissa sells toys made from coir. Sought after by tourists and visitors, these eco-friendly toys are the result of her imagination and hard work. She sells the toys in the local market - sometimes to shops and at times directly to the customers. more

Featured borrower of the month Sulochana Malik from Orissa sells toys made from coir. Sought after by tourists and visitors, these eco-friendly toys are the result of her imagination and hard work. She sells the toys in the local market - sometimes to shops and at times directly to the customers.

Sulochana Malik from Orissa

Sulochana has been involved in the craft for just two years now and is keen on purchasing coir in bulk and requires a loan for this purpose. Close

		The World With Microfinance Rang De organised An Evening with Mr.Bob Harris at Chennai which was well attended, and Mr.Bob Harris shared his experiences as a traveller and writer. He is currently working on a book on microfinance for Bloomsbury and his insights helped to refresh our outlook. more

Around The World With Microfinance Rang De organised An Evening with Bob Harris at Chennai which was well attended, and Bob Harris shared his experiences as a traveller and writer. He spoke about his chequered career as a writer for travel articles and television shows, stand-up comic, participant and winner of television quiz shows and his metamorphosis into a microfinance enthusiast.

Mr.Bob Harris

He is currently working on a book on microfinance for Bloomsbury and his insights helped to refresh our outlook. Rohit George, our Chennai chapter president sums it up on his blog Close

		Temperatures Soar With World Cup Fever What a win for team India. With an entire nation bringing their lives to a near standstill for an evening and rooting for them, they did us proud. The Rang De World Cup Fever campaign has also been one of the most successful ones and pledges poured in - some with complicated mathematic equations and others just plain and simple amounts for India's victory. more

Temperatures Soar With World Cup Fever What a win for team India. With an entire nation bringing their lives to a near standstill for an evening and rooting for them, they did us proud. The Rang De World Cup Fever campaign has also been one of the most successful ones and pledges poured in - some with complicated mathematic equations and others just plain and simple amounts for India's victory.

The Impact of WorldCup Fever.

We also had people pledging sums from their bets with others. A couple of heavy-weight pledges gave the campaign an adrenalin rush and the Rang De office turned into a mini control room tracking the pledges and watching the match at the same time. We have even got a mention in The Economic Times and DNA with the amount of 9 lakhs being raised in social investments, once again it has proved that cricket is the game that binds the nation and we feel proud to have leveraged that to make a difference in the lives of those in need. Close

		An Eco-Friendly Enterprise By Diksha Belwal, Rang De Team I visited our field partner SSVWS from West Bengal and had the opportunity to interact with 20 of our borrowers. This being one of my many such trips to evaluate borrowers across the country, I knew what was in store, the kind of businesses that most of them had, and just wondered if the trip would throw up any surprises. more

An Eco-Friendly Enterprise By Diksha Belwal, Rang De Team I visited our field partner SSVWS from West Bengal and had the opportunity to interact with 20 of our borrowers. This being one of my many such trips to evaluate borrowers across the country, I knew what was in store, the kind of businesses that most of them had, and just wondered if the trip would throw up any surprises. And surprised I was, rather pleasantly. Amidst all those enterprises such as bidi making, fish cultivation, pottery and running grocery stores, what fascinated me were those involved in making artificial flowers - artificial flowers from natural materials. Yes, most of the raw materials that they used were forest products like pine cones, peeple leaves, betel nut shells and the delicate creamy white shola pith.

Archana Mondal from West Bengal.

When I spoke to Archana, who is involved in this business, she said that she sourced the materials from various parts of West Bengal and Orissa and the demand for these flowers is high during festivals and weddings. Archana, like all the other borrowers that I met was really keen to make a good living and support their families. What she did not know was that she, in her on way was contributing to society and making it more eco-friendly. On my journey back to Chennai, the images of those flowers and Archana's deft fingers carving the shola pith keep coming back as I drift off into a slumber. For more pictures of the trip visit our facebook page Close