I'll take a break from "Wacky India" posts and write about the job, since work is why I came to India (though having found the sizes and quality I want at the department store next to the compound, I am starting to enjoy shopping).
About MFI's
Wikipedia has some good, short summaries on microfinance, microcredit, and the organizations involved. One of the things I like about the work is that many of the NGO's in microfinance work collaboratively, though the MFI market itself is getting very competitive in India. I have met with people from other organizations (Unitus, ACCION) who were both helpful and honest about the strengths and limitations with Mifos and microfinance.
Branches
Last week, Liz and I went out to an urban branch and took notes on data entry using Mifos. I find this type of activity interesting and humanizing because you get to see the pain points the product causes.
An MFI branch differs from what you may think of as a bank branch (no Muzak, thankfully). The branches can be in Bangalore near slums or 100 km outside the city. GK currently has 44 branches serving 120,000 active clients and will grow rapidly in the coming year.
A branch has one PC for data entry and a few tables at which loan officers process cash reconciliation. Branches do not have air conditioning, and the power supply is on a backup generator because power are frequent. The internet connection may go as high as 512 KBPS (you are probably reading this on at least 700), but generally it's going to be much lower, and outages necessitate the use of dial-up connections. Some branches consistently operate at ~56 KBPS.
Loan officers interact with their clients at center meetings. The meetings take place somewhere (indoors or outdoors) close to where clients live. LO's typically travel by motorcycles to get to all locations.
At GK, LO's go out into the field in the morning to hold center meetings and collect payments. They have 20 clients per center and meet with six or seven centers every day, Monday through Saturday. After the meetings are complete, the LO's work at the branch reconciling cash and accounts. When that portion is complete, one loan officer starts data entry into Mifos. Later in the day, clients may come in to receive an special disbursement.
[I'll add pictures when I get them from Liz, who is a much better photographer with a substantially better camera.]
After all disbursements and paper work are complete, data entry finishes. In the evenings--the times when the poor are not working--the LO's will work on recruiting and training clients.
Yes, but what do YOU do?
Part of my job here is to work with GK to help answer questions and get accurate information on how Mifos gets used and what improvements we can make (or what improvements we can punt to the next release). Also, I post updates to Mifos.org, test defects, and create other documentation. I am likely to have a hand in some other deployments in India, as well as help execute a workshop for MFI's and Mifos specialists in January.
The other role I play is to vet potential Mifos Specialists and development teams located in Bangalore. Mifos Specialists are the people who help MFI's implement Mifos (Mifos is free and open source). Liz (whose focuses on business development) finds potential firms, and we interview them jointly (for now). Though we've met some good development prospects, we have not yet found a good implementation firm that is appropriate for both initial deployments as well as longer-term possibilities. However, we're getting better at screening as well as making better connections.
Even though I change jobs frequently (eight companies since college, not counting a few one-off contracts), it is tough being 12.5 hours away from the rest of your team (though they make efforts to be available for us, especially AW, who is checking and responding to email while on her Aegean vacation). I end up googling a lot, faking a little, and getting good ideas for the next things to document.
It's easy to work a lot of hours because 1) Theres a lot to get done, and 2) I still have to figure out a lot of things, 3) Seattle is online when I get home from Kingfishing so I work into the wee hours, and 4) My insomnia is back. Also, I never feel like I get enough tasks completed, since I only have through February to contribute.
But, Bangalore has a lot of places to eat and drink, so I go out a few nights a week. I work out at least every other day, and when I start feeling burned out, I go check out something in the city or work on my post-India travel plans.
Questions?
3 years ago
