Who needs lines anyways?

So last Friday morning I was speaking with the head of Satin (the microfinance institution) and we agreed that it would be a valuable experience for me to go and observe a training session for Satin’s branch managers over the weekend. At 6:30 in the morning on Saturday we were off in a jeep (the COO, training managers, etc.) to a rural town in the state just east of Delhi called Uttar Pradesh or “UP.” It is not just the largest state in India with a population of around 190 million but it is also the poorest which is part of why Satin has targeted it’s microfinance operation in UP.

The Ride

Even early in the morning the roads were packed with bikes, carts, trucks, autorickshaws, you name it. In fact, what I’ve discovered is that road lines really serve no purpose in India. We took a 2-way, 2 lane road for about 2 hours and I’d equate the experience to more of constant weaving and swerving than a drive. Literally it’s like a scene in a movie when two cars are coming at each other and then at the last minute……swerve to the left. Everytime. In many cases, it’s a car going up against a wideload truck carrying bricks or food or people. I tried to capture it on camera but wanted to preserve my limbs for the time being. I like roller coasters so it’s kind of exciting but there are definitely times when you are better off not looking.

Bulandshahar – Satin Branch Manager Training

We got to Bulandshahar in mid-morning and checked out one of the division offices and branches. Satin’s rural microfinance operation has only started within the past 12-18 months (the urban microfinance operation has existed since 1990) but they have already eclipsed the total number of urban clients, roughly 40,000, in less than a year. There are 18 branches and 3 divisions in UP and Satin has plans to double that by the end of July, meaning work is going to pick up very soon.

The training session was run by a microfinance consulting company in a small hotel conference room. Since most of the Branch Managers take their positions just to have a job, most don’t understand what microfinance means on a macro level and don’t really spend time to understand how different metrics are crucial to the success of the business. Even though 90% of the discussion was in Hindi, my coworker Anvesha was gracious enough to translate much of it for me and it was remarkable how interactive the branch managers (BMs) were. The topics ranged from interest rates and repayment rates (and note that Satin has a 100% repayment rate on it’s loans) to basic accounting and there were several case studies as well.

Interestingly, the presentations were all written in English as well as the exercises. In addition, most of the people there could speak English but have a difficult time understanding it. One of the BMs, Omprakash (picture above) was very friendly from the start. As you can imagine, I stick out a little bit.

The food was always served buffet style and all vegetarian, which I’ve noticed is common when catering for large groups because of the prevalence of  “veg” eaters. One thing I learned was that if you wait in line, you lose. Queues don’t exist here so get ready to push if you want food.

One of the highlights was this short Indian guy dancing during one of the breaks.

NEWLY ADDED DANCE SEQUENCE – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk-6KC_QroI

Oh yeah and I forgot to mention, when you go on overnight visits, you split hotel rooms.  I was staying with our COO Vivek who is now my primary boss. Even more, there was one King size bed and salamanders crawling all over the bathroom. My first bucket shower as well. Overall assessment: Hilarious.

~ by sethigreenberg on July 10, 2009.