RangDe meet up at Jaaga 21st Feb, 2010

Firstly, Credit should go to Sreekanth for choosing Jaaga ( http://www.jaaga.wikidot.com/) a meeting place. It was nothing but a makeshift steel pellet rack structure on an empty piece of land powered by solar energy and equipped with wi-fi, projector & Sound system. The ambiance was truly colorful(complementing Rangde if you like)

We had a decent turnout, but most importantly we were joined by two individuals who chose to make the first stroke of the brush to spread some color- Founders of Rangde, Ram N.K and Smita Ram who drove down from Chennai along with Vibhore(Technical Backbone of RangDe) specially for the evening. Their presence surely enlightened the purpose of the meet.

Customary to any meet, we had a round of intros of everyone present. Glad to see 5 new volunteers (Siddharth, Vamshee, Anil, Shashwat & Robin) who had come along with some of the prominent one's. We jumped into our agenda straight away.

Sreekanth gave a talk on the activities having been conducted as part of the Bangalore Chapter thus far and the resulting impact of the same. We voiced our opinions on the strategy used and things to look forward to in terms of planning and executing future campaigns.

Then, Ram and Smita spoke about the Rangde model at large. It was an integral part of the meet as volunteers got to understand why Rangde stood out from other MFI's as our core values was to create maximum social impact. Primarily Ram spoke of the reason behind the difference in the interest rates among Rangde and other MFI's and its subsequent social impact.

Among the volunteers Mr.Anil, who had come along with a long time associate of RangDe Mr. Jagadish spoke about his field experiences of running a Self Help Group in the Haveri district. It was an intriguing conversation as we drew parallels between the RangDe model and his personal model. It enlightened the entire audience about the scope and opportunities that lay ahead. During this talk, Mr. Anil suggested that RangDe should look to partner with the Dell Foundation, who were on the lookout for a model similar to that of RangDe.

Such was the intensity of the meet, we overshot our intended deadline for the meet. That did not bother any of us as we moved to an important part of the discussion. Ram and Smita discussed the road map for RangDe in the year 2010, they shared their vision and laid out expectations for the bangalore chapter.

They shared their experience of putting up a punching bag(our theme being Knockout Poverty) at a clothing store in Chennai, and how it attracted the kids who would bring along their parents. We discussed a little further on implementing those ideas in Bangalore.

The idea of connecting the colleges of India, something that i have taken upon myself to accomplish, got a mention from Mr. Ram who spoke of a PAN-IIT connect to provide vocational training to the needy along with guaranteed work.We had a quick word on the Bangalore chapter's Holi campaign and on the organisation structure to be implemented by the chapter. We felt more work needs to come out in both areas.

We overshot our deadline by 40 minutes, but what came out of this intriguing meet was far more valuable to us than time. To sum up, Ram and Smita shared the uniqueness of the RangDe model and laid a road map for the coming year. It helps to understand the vision and mission of the founders as it will trickle down to the concerned chapters to ensure uniformity of brand awareness.

RangDe Bangalore Chapter Meet

I was brimming with excitment over meeting the RangDe Bangalore team. When i got to this famous hangout called The Egg Factory at St.Marks Road, i was surprised to see a low turnout.

But that did not dampen our spirits, we got down to business staright away. We discussed key issues with regard to spreading awareness and increasing our volunteer base. After an hour long disussion, we decided on two key agenda's.

1. To establish the bangalore chapter as a corporate with designated individuals accounting for their roles and responsibilities

2. To focus on one key activity that will aid the RangDe cause in the coming month.

The second agenda got the 7 members throwing in ideas, we narrowed it down to a painting competition to be organised in schools with theme : Colour the RangDe Logo : A very thought provoking idea generated by Mr. Srikanth.

The first agenda will take shape over the next couple of weeks as Ms. Archana will formulate the draft for designating individuals in the team.

As for my personal agenda, i have decided to prepare a presentation on rural entrepreneurship which is to be presented in all B-schools and leading institutions to raise awareness and bring in social investments! Excited and looking forward to it!

My First Meeting towards Social Change

Finally,After 7 long years, i had arrived in the land of southern dreams! - Chennai!. I was there to realize a dream too.

Sitting in an auto reminiscent of the days when i used to travel to the beaches, parks and local sites of chennai, heading to a popular coffee cafe - Amethyst. Whats my dream got to do with Coffee? i'll explain.

I was there to meet the founders of RangDe- one of the most proposing NGO's in the field of micro finance in the country. I had called Ms. Smitha a week before my arrival and we had discussed on certain ideas for the organisation. It was finally great to meet the people who started this organisation with a single aim to alleviate poverty. That completely coincides with my dream!

Did not take too long to get introduced to a group of 15 enjoying their cup of coffee. Apparently, it was the organisations second birthday, and i could not have got the timing better!

We started discussions on how we can improve our impact over a large scale and i had suggested that we involve various b-schools in this country to create direct impact by taking forward the beliefs and principles of RangDe (Micro Loans to create Big Impact)

A small discussion then began to spread among other members in the group and ideas starting pouring in. Was wonderful to be interacting with people from various corporate backgrounds and education backgrounds. Vibhore : who works for Texas Instruments is working full time with Rangde and part time with T.I after coming across RangDe.

Many such interesting stories but time was short as the founders had to leave for another meeting. By then the idea had a base, and gave me a platform for start work on it. Will always remember the day(26th Jan, 2010).

With this i start my blog on social change. I will discuss my experiences, ideas and more importantly look to interact with future change agents...