“Poverty is not just a lack of money, it is not having the capability to realize one’s full potential as a human being”- Amartya Sen, Eminent Economist and Philosopher
Being poor can be challenging anywhere, particularly in a developing country. In such a scenario, the support of empathetic peer groups can be crucial in bolstering the confidence and helping to circumvent the binds of social do’s and don’ts with minimal friction and adverse repercussions. In present economic system of India, women-centric microfinance institutions can play a vital role in enabling women to realize their strengths by leveraging the power of aggregation. Access to credit is a key factor in empowering women. The latent credit demand of an emerging India will allow microfinance companies to fill the gap, especially where traditional banks have been wary to serve.
With social vision to reach out underprivileged women who are unbanked with economic opportunities, Fusion Microfinance Private Limited offers wide-range of financial products and services to transform the lives of women who belong to the rural and semi urban areas. The foundation stone of the organization was laid with a vision to make a social impact through financial inclusion and woman empowerment. The motto was to serve the women from the unserved and underserved strata of the society who were entrepreneurs or wanted to start an enterprise… The Company is creating opportunities for its clients by enabling them to channelize their true potential.
Distinctive Services for Nourishing Financial Needs
Fusion is a Microfinance institution registered as a NBFC-MFI (Non-Deposit Taking) with Reserve Bank of India. The company operates on the time tested Grameen Joint Liability Group (JLG) model offering financial products and services for women. Income generation loans are provided to economically active women who want to either start a new business or to scale up their existing business. To provide a risk cover, life insurance is provided to both the client and her spouse.
An Ingenious Leader of Fusion Microfinance
With over sixteen years of rich service sector experience, Devesh Sachdev is the Founder and CEO of Fusion Microfinance. He has completed his post-graduation from XLRI. On account of his strategic vision, Fusion is among top 10 leading Microfinance Institutions in India. Devesh successfully completed ‘The Strategic Leadership Program’ from the Harvard Business School in the year 2015. He is on the board of MFIN, which is a Self-Regulatory Organization for NBFC-MFIs in India. He has also been listed in the “50 fastest growing CEOs of India” in a reputed magazine.
As a passion to support the entrepreneurial culture, he is an angel investor and mentor to some of the startups in India.
Women Empowerment: The pillar of Success
Fusion only serves women clients and has already touched the lives of around 1.3 million women. It is a frontrunner in promoting holistic development of women. The distribution of loans provides women with a way to generate income, which increases their status within the household as well as within the community. Fusion works on the underlying principles of customer centricity thereby building a strong connection with its Clients. The company is driving financial literacy through digital payments. It inculcates saving habits in the unserved and underserved women clients. It is providing emergency loans to meet ad hoc needs of the customers and also provides insurance cover to both the customer and her spouse. The company is contributing in remolding the sectorial image by encouraging the women entrepreneurs to participate in livelihood trainings and inculcate those learnings in their day to day lives.
Contribution to Financial Sector
Growing with responsibility has been a core value of Fusion’s culture. As a responsible company, it has consciously developed a strategic model to imbibe positive sectorial image of microfinance sector. The company has made an efficient use of media and press coverage to create awareness both at a national and regional level. Fusion has worked towards alleviating the perception issues of the microfinance sector creating an affirmative outlook. This has led to a gradual but tremendous change of how the sector is perceived today in the eyes of external Stakeholders.
At a regional level, key personnel from Fusion team collaborate with Government Institutions and Local Authorities, thereby strengthening corporate relationships.
What do Fusion clients gain by doing business with Fusion?
Customer centricity is the key essence of Fusion work culture. By availing the doorstep services, Fusion Clients are able to live up to their entrepreneurial aspirations and contribute to the household income. Growing with responsibility, the Organization aims at holistic development of its Clients by encompassing financial literacy and digital innovation in conjunction with economic empowerment of women.
For instance, Financial Literacy Programs help Clients by making them aware of the innovative technology and digital payment modes, thereby advocating financial literacy with an entire gamut of flexible and convenient withdrawal options. Additionally, the company’s digital literacy programs help in transforming the customer’s banking experience by empowering them with the digital banking platforms.
Need based livelihood trainings are also provided to the Clients from marginalized communities which fuels their earning potential. It provides job prospects by extending direct employment to youth in the rural areas. In parallel, a lot of employment avenues are created by Fusion Clients through their entrepreneurial ventures. The company puts consistent efforts in contributing towards the Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) standards of all its Clients. The company organizes health camps in remote areas to create awareness around health and hygiene of Clients by providing medical facilities to them.
Award and Achievements
With its Best-in-class services Fusion Microfinance has achieved following milestones-
- Winner of the prestigious Project of the Year Award 2018 by Project Management Institute of India – the award is the highest recognition for Project Management in the Country
- Winner of Best NBFC MFI Award 2018 for Customer Literacy and Capacity Building
- Featured in the 15th Asian Network of Quality Congress 2017 held in Kathmandu for Cashless endeavors
- ‘Business World Digital India Award 2017’ for the usage of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) in Rural Development awarded by Sri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Honb’ Union Minister of India
- Received 92% score in Code of Conduct Assessment in May 2017 against the guidelines of unified code of conduct, RBI FPC and RBI guidelines for NBFC-MFI
- ‘Super Achiever’s Award 2016’ under BFSI category instituted by Stars of the Industry Group, Mumbai
- Client Protection Principles – SMART CAMPAIGN has awarded Fusion with Client Protection Certification for embedding client protection practices into the organizational culture and meeting strong standards of client care in Aug 2016
- ‘Best MFI of the year 2014 Award’ at ‘Microfinance India Awards 2014’ instituted by ACCESS
- Included in the list of India’s 25 leading MFIs by CRISIL in 2014
Looking into the Future
Fusion has recently concluded its Series E investment round of INR 520 crores Warburg Pincus making Fusion one of India’s most preferred companies in the financial inclusion space. This is the first investment of Warburg Pincus’s in the Indian microfinance space.
Progressing forward with positive approach, the company will continue to enhance its technology driven innovative solutions for financial inclusion in the rural landscape. Fusion aims to not only provide microcredit services to clients but also enable them grow as an individual and become self-reliant financially.
The company will continue to generate awareness about the digital payment platforms to clients. It is dedicated to provide financial services to clients with core values of respect for the individual, collaboration, transparency, and humility.
Source :-The 10 Most Acclaimed Micro Finance Companies
