Vikram Akula, Founder and CEO of SKS Microfinance, one of the world’s fastest growing microfinance institutions, was the featured speaker at TIE-Boston’s social entrepreneurship event held on April 10, 2007 at Tufts University. Akula who is alum of Tufts University addressed a standing room only crowd and shared some insights on how microfinance is transforming the world. Akula has been named by TIME Magazine as one of “The People Who Shape Our World” for 2006.

Provost Jamshed Bharucha in his welcome note talked about Tufts University’s interest in microfianance. “ Ebay founder Pierre Omidiyar, donated $100 million to Tufts with the stipulation that all of the money be invested in microfinance. At Tufts our portfolio managers are careful about ensuring good returns on our investments. As a University we are committed to promoting active citizenship. The microfinance investment satisfies both criteria and thus we are pioneers in using our portfolio money to “save the world” while ensuring a good return on investment” said Bharucha.

Akula has dedicated much of his professional life to addressing India’s poverty. Prior to launching SKS, Akula was a Fulbright Scholar in India, during which he coordinated a government-funded (Jawahar Rozgar Yojana) action-research project on providing microfinance for food security. He has also worked as a community organizer with the Deccan Development Society in Andhra Pradesh and as a researcher with the Worldwatch Institute, where he wrote articles on poverty and development. He holds an BA from Tufts, an MA from Yale and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, where his dissertation focused on poverty alleviation strategies.

Akula talked about SKS finance and the impact it has on changing the life of poor people in India. “ SKS believes that access to basic financial services can significantly increase economic opportunities for poor families and in turn help improve their lives. Over the last eight years, SKS has delivered a full portfolio of microfinance to the poor in India and we are proud of our current outreach of over 603,933 clients in 11 states. As a leader in technological innovation and operational excellence, SKS is excited about setting the course for the industry over the next five years and striving to reach our goal of 1,000,000 clients by 2010 ” said Akula.

SKS currently has 295 microfinance branches in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, UP, Rajasthan, West Bengal , Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh. This year, SKS aims to reach 600,000 clients by March 2007. In the last year alone, SKS Microfinance has achieved nearly 161 % growth, with 98% on-time repayment rate.

SKS has recently received venture capital funding from Sequoia Capital. “SKS has created a model whereby leading global private equity firms like Sequoia feel confident in channeling capital to the hands of the poor. This is significant because it will encourage more commercial capital to come into microfinance and that will ultimately enable greater financial inclusion for India’s 400 million poor people” said Akula.

Three panelists from ASA, a microfinance institution in Chennai, India, Kashf an institution working in Pakistan and Swaadhar, a microfianance group in Mumbai also talked about their work.  While ASA and Kashf were focusing on rural areas which have been the traditional turf of microfinance, Swadaar was breaking new ground by trying this in the slums of a big city. The event clearly established the validity of microfinance as a great investment opportunity that has the potential to change the lives of the poor.

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