who have built the bank. They are the
backbone of Bandhan today,” says a
very proud Ghosh.T
oday, Bandhan Bank has 4,288
banking outlets, serving more
than 1.9 crore customers. Yet, the
microfinance arm is closest to Ghosh’s
heart. Bandhan has created millions
of entrepreneurs, who have built their
businesses bottom-up and earn up to
`50,000 a month.
“Recently in Mumbai, a young man
came up to me and thanked me, men-
tioning his mother, who had taken a
loan from us, started a small business
and was able to put him through a good
education. I cannot tell you how it felt,”
says Ghosh. Some Bandhan borrowers
generate employment themselves. “We
have one crore borrowers, all over India
today. Even if one job has been created
by each, it would mean we have been
involved in creating jobs for at least one
crore people,” adds Ghosh. For him,
what works is the trickle-up method of
increasing the incomes of large num-
bers, and thus creating wealth.Ghosh does not believe in alms.
“Give work instead, to the destitute,” he
says. Bandhan also works in commu-
nity development and has been mak-
ing entrepreneurs of poor people for
the past 15 years—1,01,530 people in
12 states so far. Of the funds allocated
for development, 40 per cent goes into
this programme. A woman who used
to beg in Murshidabad has built a four-
storey building today, the Abdul Latif
Jameel Poverty Action Lab in MIT has
informed Bandhan. “She has done it by
making and selling puffed rice, through
our programme,” says Ghosh. She met
Ghosh recently and offered him some
of her puffed rice, which touched him
deeply. “If someone says our work has
changed their lives, it inspires me to do
more,” says Ghosh.
Ghosh’s larger vision is to drive
India’s human development index, in a
meaningful, sustainable way. For this,
he draws his motivation from his team.
“Together we can move mountains,” he
says. Considering what they have
achieved already, Ghosh and his team
will be the ones to watch.readersdigest.co.in 23ph
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Ghosh speaking to women interested
in microloans in a village in North 24
Parganas, West Bengal