Ranjani, Monty and I caught the morning flight from Chennai into the Bombay monsoon. Traffic in gridlock. Half of this city seems to be slums with blue tarps on roofs and the rest seems to be consumed by vines. Urban Jumanji.
Over a veg curry, we swap stories and plans with Emily Harrison, an Aussie who heads Innovaid. It's a foundation that manages other charities like Brett Lee's Mewsic. Brett wants to see kids living in slums and rural villages get the chance to learn and enjoy music. Music to heal, educate and empower. Brett loves India (he has learnt Hindi), loves music and has even had a hit duet with diva Asha Bhosle, which went to number two on the Indian charts. So why would we be interested in Mewsic? Because it's working where we work and we want to know about, encourage and even strengthen others who help the same people we do. Good development involves openness and alliances, not the isolation so often seen.
Two weeks ago, terrorists struck Mumbai not far from where we were meeting. There were 26 people killed and 130 wounded. The people here are not so much shocked as they are angry. This has been just another hit in a string of major attacks, including the 2006 metro attack and the 2008 hotel attacks. Now everyone's going about their business and so were we. Next was a meeting with Mr Joseph, the CEO of the Axis Bank Foundation.
Axis Bank, one of India's big private sector banks, transfers up to 1% of net profit to its foundation each year. That's up to A$7 million per annum. In addition, Babu Joseph is ramping up a workplace giving program from the bank's 27,000 employees. Axis has a publicly stated goal of creating one million sustainable livelihoods in the next five years. Sustainable livelihoods are exactly what we aim for, too. Opportunity does this through the provision of small loans and business training. Mr Joseph has the passion, the funding and some excellent projects in the pipeline. He's also very keen to work with us to make his goals – and ours –,a reality. The bank has been an important funder of our microfinance partners since the start of the India program. In this period of restricted bank funding for microfinance, relationships like this are key. We leave Mr Joseph full of hope.
There are signs the banks are moving. Today it’s reported that Union Bank has sanctioned a Rs100 crore (A$21m) loan to Bandhan, a large Kolkata-based MFI. The Economic Times of India carried the story on its front page: ‘Bank Loans for MFIs Start Trickling in’.
Let it pour!
Robert Dunn
CEO
Opportunity International Australia
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