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Happy Twenty Ten
The Rang De Team wishes you all a happy and prosperous New Year!
We at Rang De look forward to the new decade with renewed enthusiasm and with your support hope to reach greater heights in Twenty Ten.
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Missing in Action
Although the Rang De newsletter went missing for a few months, the action at Rang De certainly did not. In fact it reached fever pitch with field trips, new partnerships and events being held all over the country, all leading up to the first Rang De partners meet held at Mahabalipuram.
This issue brings you some of the action that kept us on our toes and brought in some positive results.
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Chapter Chatter
Gurinder who heads the Delhi chapter joined other team members to help at the Microfinance India summit and has also represented Rang De at various other events more » |
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Chapter Chatter
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Gurinder who heads the Delhi chapter joined other team members to help at the Microfinance India summit and has also represented Rang De at various other events.
Mitesh leads the Mumbai chapter by example. His team got off to a great start with the Silicon India’s startup city event. Then, Mitesh, Deepa and Deepti made a presentation at the Sparsha event organized by NITIE on Rang De’s field mentorship programme and walked away with the third prize. Next was a visit to Pusad to meet some of the borrowers to get a first hand experience of the ground realities. This strengthened Mitesh and Deepa’s resolve to support the underprivileged and work harder.
Watch what Mitesh and Deepa have to say on YouTube.
Our Bangalore chapter, with Harsh in the lead went on a field trip too. He recounts his experience at Vandavasi and the power of micro lending.
The Bangalore chapter has also successfully launched a campaign with a popular restaurant in the city and is brimming with more ideas.
If all this has inspired you to join or start a Rang De chapter in your city, please contact us at chapters@rangde.org and we will be happy to help you.
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Welcome Aboard
We would like to welcome our newest field partner from West Bengal - Swami Vivekananda Welfare Society, Sripur and we are proud to be associated with them. We have already uploaded application forms of borrowers from the region and you will soon hear more about how the partnership is progressing.
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Anusuya- The wake up call
Every once in a while we come across stories that are not just unpleasant but downright outrageous. But we believe that unless we share these too, we would not be doing justice to our investors and so here it is.
Anusuya was one of the chosen borrowers, from T. Narsipura (about 40 kms. from Mysore). Her need was to expand her petty shop. However, when a Rang De team member and some social investors visited her, Anusuya seemed to be totally in the dark. A little more questioning and probing led us to infer that Anusuya‘s father-in-law intended to use the money to lend it to others in the village.
Despite our best efforts at screening and counter checking we acknowledge that an ‘Anusuya’ could slip through. So what do we do?
Well, in this case disbursal of funds was stopped immediately and the field partner was informed, who was in complete agreement with us. The social investors who had chosen Anusuya as their beneficiary was also intimated and asked to choose new borrowers.
As Rang De grows, possibilities of such cases arising cannot be ruled out and we now have a policy on how they are to be dealt with. Do check out our policy on default payments and delayed payments.
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From the Field
We have seen different kinds of field partners at Rang De and there is something unique about each of them. In the last few months two of them have stood out for different reasons. We share their exceptional role in reaching out to the needy.
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From the Field
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We have seen different kinds of field partners at Rang De and there is something unique about each of them. In the last few months two of them have stood out for different reasons. We share their exceptional role in reaching out to the needy.
Gram Utthan from Orissa is considered one of the top 50 MFIs in the country and has partnered with Rang De with a strong social commitment - to reach out to the underserved. What this means in real terms is that we had to actually bring down our minimum loan size to Rs.1000 in order to cater to the needs of these borrowers.
The floods that affected our borrowers in Kurnool made enough news and was seen nationwide, but for our local partner Hope IRDS, it meant finding out details of each of the borrowers and extending the help needed. They made sure that all their borrowers were safe and distributed essentials like clothes and utensils to those affected. Waiving off their loans was a possibility that they were working on, but the borrowers just asked for a two month extension to get back on their feet. Mr. Jayakumar of Hope has been closely monitoring them and helping them to build their lives again.
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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.
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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
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.
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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:
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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 : 1819 |
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| Social Investors : 858 |
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| Loans Raised : Rs 1,13,07,285 |
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| Loans Repaid : Rs. 49,17,994 |
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| Repayment Rate : 100% |
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Upcoming Events |
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Pssst- Have you heard ...? |
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Yes! Rang De has reduced their minimum investment amount to just Rs.100. This was done to allow more people to hop on to the Rang De bandwagon and experience the joy of helping someone in need. Our social investors now include college students and others with limited incomes, but share our passion to knock out poverty in India
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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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Rang De @ Mood Indigo'09
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The third week of December had most of the Rang De team descend on Mumbai to take part in the cultural fest at IIT Mumbai. With weeks of preparation and heightened expectations they arrived at Mumbai, armed with banners, T-shirts and other paraphernalia, all ready to swerve the student community towards a social cause. The response to the games and competitions were just lukewarm and soon we realized that a college cultural fest was probably not the best place for us. We did however get a few social investors and learnt another interesting lesson on “what not to try” in the future. Read more»
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Back to Counting 1, 2, 3, 4
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A brand new product 1, 2, 3, 4 has been launched, aimed at providing just-in-time working capital to rural producer groups. Check Rang De Blog for the details and further announcements.
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Volunteers Required |
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Do you have excellent communication skills in English and one of the following languages - Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Oriya, Bengali, Hindi, Malayalam or Marathi, and like to work from home? Then write to smita@rangde.org |
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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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