CEO Talk on 'Community Mobilization & Institution Building' Held at XIMB

CEO Talk on 'Community Mobilization & Institution Building' Held at XIMB

XIM, Bhubaneswar held CEO Talk on 'Community Mobilization & Institution Building' as an initiative taken by students and faculty involved in the CMIB course of the Rural Management programme, to explore new arenas in the field of financial inclusion through Micro-finance.

An insightful perspective was given by Mr. N. Amin, the President of 'ADHIKAR', an MFI committed to social cause of protecting human rights of the poor and the down trodden, particularly of rural women.

The talk began with a reality check of the state we are in currently and why micro-finance is a must for the upliftment of rural society. The focus was especially on the problem of rural migration that is attaining gargantuan proportions with every passing day. The cases of Malkangiri and Baripada were discussed in some detail to highlight the very point.

The focus then shifted on some of the very defining activities of the organization, specifically the designing of an innovative strategy to take care of domestic remittances and ensuring the complete transfer of money to the end users. The organization is currently handling INR 75 Lakh of remittances in the area and hopes to increase that amount gradually.

The discussion then shifted towards the role and impact of micro-finance and the various challenges associated with it, given the lack of adequate institutional credit to the majority of the population. The core competencies of the organization were then presented and the results were found to be very impressive when benchmarked with other leading institutions. The idea of 'our loans and your labor' combined with technical support has been implemented as a model to revive the ailing areas of the country.

At the closing moments, the role and impact of SHG's was deliberated upon, and how it was giving an identity to people and empowering them in the long run. Finally, the audience asked several relevant questions concerning challenges associated with mobilization, various models of credit delivery, etc.

Overall, it was a very enriching experience and helped the students to get a practical perspective of an otherwise sound theoretical concept.

Concluded.

Contributed by -
Dinah J. Rodrigues,
Coordinator, IlluminatiX,
Media & PR Cell,
Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar.