A sexual harassment committee has been set up at Grameen Financial Services Pvt Ltd (GFSPL) with an aim to make GFSPL a safe place to work for all its employees, irrespective of their gender, caste or any other background. The committee shall be headed by Ms. Vinatha Reddy, Founder and Chairperson of GFSPL. It also comprises of six members. These six members will be from major departments like the operations, training, policy and human resources.

GFSPL has won the MIX Silver award for the second time in a row. Microfinance Information eXchange (MIX) has recently announced its 2011 Social Performance Awards which recognize microfinance institutions committed to transparent social performance monitoring and management. 

On March 12th, 2012 around 20 women were waiting in front of the Head Office. What was their concern? On enquiry we were informed by them that they had come from Harinagara Kendra of Kaggalipura branch. The reason for them coming to the HO was that out of the 20 members, three members were not getting loans due to rejection during credit bureau check. 

Prof Yunus was in Bangalore in the month of March. Ms Vinatha Reddy, Founder and Chairperson of GFSPL had an opportunity to meet him at the Infosys Campus. In his conversation with our chairperson, Prof Yunus asked how Grameen Koota was faring. He commended the efforts put in by Grameen Koota and wished us all the very best in our endeavors. Prof Yunus also promised to visit Grameen Koota, the next time when he comes to Bangalore.

Grameen Koota has partnered with Hindustan Uni Lever Ltd (HUL) to provide ‘Pureit’ water purifiers to their members. This partnership will be of great benefit to the members as they would be able to access safe drinking water at affordable cost. Grameen Koota would provide financial support for the Pureit device and HUL would ensure delivery of the product at the member’s doorstep and after sales services. This scheme has been launched on a pilot basis in 15 branches of Grameen Koota (nine in Karnataka and six in Maharashtra).

A General health camp was organized in Sholapur branch of Maharashtra on 3rd March 2012. Members from Bharat Nagar, Rishte Nagar, Morarji Peth, Panchshila Nagar, Kumbhar Galli, Kongade Galli, Bharat Nagar and Shiv Ganga areas attended and benefitted from this camp. The total number of members who attended the camp was 187.

 GFSPL’s plan to enter into Home Loan business has realized. A loan of Rs. 1 lakh has been sanctioned  to Mrs. Shobha (village Terinadoddi), client of Kankapura branch on 21st March 2012 is quiet a beginning to this segment.  The client is an active member of Grameen Koota for the last seven years and is primarily into sericulture. The loan will support the member’s family to construct new house on the property belonging to the member - Mrs. Shobha. The member’s family will move into the newly built house after completion.

Life has its uncertain moments. It was one such moment for Heena Holdur when her father abandoned their family 10 years ago. Poverty gripped them during this lean period. Meager income was generated by Heena’s mother. She worked as a house maid. They stayed in a relative’s house. Heena too helped her mother by working as a domestic servant. With all this she was able to score a 66 per cent in the Pre-University Course (PUC) exams. With such poverty, how was Heena to pursue her dreams of making it big in life? Every cloud has a silver lining. Gravity was the silver lining in Heena’s life.

Students from the University of Sydney, Australia visited GFSPL on 23rd and 24th of February 2012. They studied the nature of our business and the key services which differentiates us from other MFIs. Sessions on financial and non-financial products were held on 23rd at the head office. A field visit to the Grameen Koota learning center at Channapatna was organized on 24th Feb 2012.

February 2012 has seen thumbs up in the Water and Sanitation Program. Awareness was created among 250 people. The total responsiveness created up till February reached 94248. The loan amount disbursed was 655000. 255 units got complete water connection. In the sanitation program the target achieved was 1429. The total amount of loan that was disbursed was Rs 14290000. Under this scheme the construction work of 340 toilets were complete and were ready to be used. 2012 has seen 3533 units with water connection and 5613 toilets where the construction has been complete.