Kalaidevi in front of her grocery shop. The 5000 Rs. loan enabled by Rang De helped her expand her shop and nearly doubled her earnings. Image Credit http://www.rangde.org/rangdeImages/p/345-276x182.gif
Sometime back, I celebrated completing a few years of my first (and my current) job. This day is really important – it is the anniversary of my financial independence. From this year onwards, I decided to celebrate this special day in a small, yet significant way. I gave a micro-loan to a woman entrepreneur from Maharashtra. She runs a computer centre, and needs this money to expand her business.
I helped this woman through Rang De, a not-for-profit microfinancing institution that assists mostly women entrepreneurs from rural India in getting small loans to enhance their businesses. Rang De, through this direct lending, saves poor rural entrepreneurs from the clutches of the feudal moneylenders who charge exorbitant interest rates. The idea of micro-loans appealed to me, and a little search in the web led me to the website of Kiva, world’s first online lending platform, which is the model for Rang De. Kiva is a huge success, and I wish Rang De a bigger success.
Lending through Rang De has two advantages – First, you are not losing your money. At the end of one year, your loan will be repaid with 8.5% interest. At the same time, you are supporting a person achieve his/her dream. You are helping some of the world’s worst poor to help themselves out of their wretched living conditions.
Thus have I done. I plan to invest more money in Rang De. I hope you also will.
