Entries For: July 2006
2006-07-25
Shooting for the moon
Filed Under:
What Madhu didn’t realize was that SHE would be the one pushing her team to strive for ideal solutions.
“People in development are used to not having funds. So they don’t think big, they think small.” Unfortunately, nongovernmental organizations face a perpetual lack of funding and tend to plan based on the bottom end of what is possible. So, Madhu called upon her for-profit experience.
Madhu suggests that her team think about optimal solutions. “If we think big,” she says, “we can get at least 80%. If we think small, we get 80% of much less.”
Madhu presented her team with a different way of thinking about solutions, but she did add an element of realism. “Shoot for the moon,” she says. “But you must also have a backup plan if resource constraints necessitate scaling down.”
After two weeks of consideration, her team is now on board. As for her own learning, Madhu is developing a deeper understanding of priorities. What is enough knowledge to make decisions? How do you do more with less? These are questions that people in every profession consider at some point. They are also questions that Madhu FEELS acutely within her new role.
“This is just a start.” Madhu is convinced. “If we can increase efficiencies in the structure of microfinance institutions, we can create a domino effect. At the point where people step above the poverty line, they can then begin to look beyond the next square meal to improving their lives.”
Madhu’s six-month placement through Cisco’s Leadership Fellows program will be an important piece of the puzzle. If her job is done right, the technology and software backbone she helps develop could be replicated worldwide - and that means some serious scaling up.
To learn more about corporate service fellowship programs, visit BuildingBlocks International or contact info@bblocks.org.
“People in development are used to not having funds. So they don’t think big, they think small.” Unfortunately, nongovernmental organizations face a perpetual lack of funding and tend to plan based on the bottom end of what is possible. So, Madhu called upon her for-profit experience.
Madhu suggests that her team think about optimal solutions. “If we think big,” she says, “we can get at least 80%. If we think small, we get 80% of much less.”
Madhu presented her team with a different way of thinking about solutions, but she did add an element of realism. “Shoot for the moon,” she says. “But you must also have a backup plan if resource constraints necessitate scaling down.”
After two weeks of consideration, her team is now on board. As for her own learning, Madhu is developing a deeper understanding of priorities. What is enough knowledge to make decisions? How do you do more with less? These are questions that people in every profession consider at some point. They are also questions that Madhu FEELS acutely within her new role.
“This is just a start.” Madhu is convinced. “If we can increase efficiencies in the structure of microfinance institutions, we can create a domino effect. At the point where people step above the poverty line, they can then begin to look beyond the next square meal to improving their lives.”
Madhu’s six-month placement through Cisco’s Leadership Fellows program will be an important piece of the puzzle. If her job is done right, the technology and software backbone she helps develop could be replicated worldwide - and that means some serious scaling up.
To learn more about corporate service fellowship programs, visit BuildingBlocks International or contact info@bblocks.org.
2006-07-18
Exit strategy
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Ironically, Madhu’s first lesson as a Leadership Fellow was the importance of creating an exit strategy.
“My project could last an entire year,” Madhu realizes now. Her challenge is to ensure that when her Leadership Fellowship with Mercy Corps ends in August and she returns to her job at Cisco, the team she leaves behind is well prepared to keep the momentum going and meet success without her.
A Kompanion for Microfinance in Kyrgyzstan
Microfinancing has been used as a poverty alleviation tool for decades. Yet, most microfinance institutions still have high transactional costs. Improved operational efficiency and a creative use of technology can reduce these transactional costs – and allow the microfinance model to be scaled.
Most of Kyrgyzstan’s citizens, particularly in rural areas, have little or no access to either savings vehicles or credit. Mercy Corps created Kompanion Financial Group to serve as a community development finance institution that would “foster the growth of micro-and small-business entrepreneurs…and help clients build healthy, financially stable communities.” Kompanion opened in October 2004 and is now the third largest financial institution in Kyrgyzstan in terms of numbers of clients.
Yet, Madhu’s initial review of Kompanion’s infrastructure uncovered that their software consists of multiple unlinked programs from different vendors that together lack the ability to do real time reporting. Without a more comprehensive, improved technology Kompanion won’t be able to achieve sustainability.
The realization
While Madhu’s initial inclination was to approach her assignment with her corporate hat on and “get it done,” she quickly realized that, “If I just go and do it for [my team], they won’t be able to complete such a project next time.” In addition to her role as a business advisor for the Kyrgyzstan project she soon added the role of coach and facilitator. Madhu wants to empower her Kyrgyz team to do the work and learn from the experience. In only a few months she will be gone.
For now, Madhu makes contacts and finds out what technology and software is available in the market. She finds the sources of information and shares the info with her team. The Mercy Corps/Kompanion team will drive implementation – not Madhu.
To learn more about corporate service fellowship programs, visit BuildingBlocks International or contact info@bblocks.org.
“My project could last an entire year,” Madhu realizes now. Her challenge is to ensure that when her Leadership Fellowship with Mercy Corps ends in August and she returns to her job at Cisco, the team she leaves behind is well prepared to keep the momentum going and meet success without her.
A Kompanion for Microfinance in Kyrgyzstan
Microfinancing has been used as a poverty alleviation tool for decades. Yet, most microfinance institutions still have high transactional costs. Improved operational efficiency and a creative use of technology can reduce these transactional costs – and allow the microfinance model to be scaled.
Most of Kyrgyzstan’s citizens, particularly in rural areas, have little or no access to either savings vehicles or credit. Mercy Corps created Kompanion Financial Group to serve as a community development finance institution that would “foster the growth of micro-and small-business entrepreneurs…and help clients build healthy, financially stable communities.” Kompanion opened in October 2004 and is now the third largest financial institution in Kyrgyzstan in terms of numbers of clients.
Yet, Madhu’s initial review of Kompanion’s infrastructure uncovered that their software consists of multiple unlinked programs from different vendors that together lack the ability to do real time reporting. Without a more comprehensive, improved technology Kompanion won’t be able to achieve sustainability.
The realization
While Madhu’s initial inclination was to approach her assignment with her corporate hat on and “get it done,” she quickly realized that, “If I just go and do it for [my team], they won’t be able to complete such a project next time.” In addition to her role as a business advisor for the Kyrgyzstan project she soon added the role of coach and facilitator. Madhu wants to empower her Kyrgyz team to do the work and learn from the experience. In only a few months she will be gone.
For now, Madhu makes contacts and finds out what technology and software is available in the market. She finds the sources of information and shares the info with her team. The Mercy Corps/Kompanion team will drive implementation – not Madhu.
To learn more about corporate service fellowship programs, visit BuildingBlocks International or contact info@bblocks.org.
2006-07-11
Where in the world is Kyrgyzstan?
Filed Under:
Last February, Madhu Anand left her comfortable job as a Business Operations Manager in Cisco Systems’ San Jose headquarters and began a six-month, full- time corporate service fellowship supporting microfinance in Kyrgyzstan.
Through Cisco’s Leadership Fellows program, Madhu had stepped into a job that would be unlike any other at Cisco.
Cisco Systems and Mercy Corps chose Madhu Anand to examine the business processes of Mercy Corps’ community development financial institution and use technology to streamline their daily tasks and automate processes.
But the effect of Madhu’s work will be felt far beyond the landlocked borders of Kyrgyzstan. Her expertise will help create a technology and software backbone designed to increase the operational efficiency of Mercy Corps microcredit programs and other microfinancing institutions worldwide.
Kyrgyzstan is a country of 5 million people squeezed between China to the south, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to the west and Kazakhstan to the north. 40% of the Kyrgyz live below the poverty line. Madhu knew that her first challenge would be language. In Kyrgyzstan they speak Russian and Kyrgyz - and Kyrgyz has yet to make its way into Rosetta Stone language courses.
Fortunately for Madhu, the people at Mercy Corps and the management team of the local microfinance institution she would work with, Kompanion, all speak English.
Madhu had wanted an opportunity to apply her training and expertise to a social cause. Cisco’s three-year-old Leadership Fellows Program allowed her to do just that. The Leadership Fellows program allows high potential Cisco employees to apply their professional training and experience toward some of the world’s most intractable social problems. For Madhu, the Leadership Fellows program was an opportunity to help a segment of society exit the cycle of poverty. In Mercy Corps, an international nonprofit, Madhu had found the perfect fit.
Madhu works today with the Mercy Corps field office in Bishkek. She is based in Portland, Oregon and makes frequent trips to the Kyrgyzstani field office so that she can maintain her technology connections and bring the best technology to her assignment.
As Madhu prepared to leave on her first foray, she considered the role of a lifetime. In the next six months she would be bringing new knowledge into Mercy Corps’ Kyrgyzstani microfinance institution to help construct effective back office operations, to identify bottlenecks, and to figure out how to upgrade their infrastructure, while providing strategic support and setting up the project team. It sounded like a daunting task to accomplish in six months; Madhu felt she was ready.
To learn more about corporate service fellowship programs, visit BuildingBlocks International or contact info@bblocks.org.
Through Cisco’s Leadership Fellows program, Madhu had stepped into a job that would be unlike any other at Cisco.
Cisco Systems and Mercy Corps chose Madhu Anand to examine the business processes of Mercy Corps’ community development financial institution and use technology to streamline their daily tasks and automate processes.
But the effect of Madhu’s work will be felt far beyond the landlocked borders of Kyrgyzstan. Her expertise will help create a technology and software backbone designed to increase the operational efficiency of Mercy Corps microcredit programs and other microfinancing institutions worldwide.
Kyrgyzstan is a country of 5 million people squeezed between China to the south, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to the west and Kazakhstan to the north. 40% of the Kyrgyz live below the poverty line. Madhu knew that her first challenge would be language. In Kyrgyzstan they speak Russian and Kyrgyz - and Kyrgyz has yet to make its way into Rosetta Stone language courses.
Fortunately for Madhu, the people at Mercy Corps and the management team of the local microfinance institution she would work with, Kompanion, all speak English.
Madhu had wanted an opportunity to apply her training and expertise to a social cause. Cisco’s three-year-old Leadership Fellows Program allowed her to do just that. The Leadership Fellows program allows high potential Cisco employees to apply their professional training and experience toward some of the world’s most intractable social problems. For Madhu, the Leadership Fellows program was an opportunity to help a segment of society exit the cycle of poverty. In Mercy Corps, an international nonprofit, Madhu had found the perfect fit.
Madhu works today with the Mercy Corps field office in Bishkek. She is based in Portland, Oregon and makes frequent trips to the Kyrgyzstani field office so that she can maintain her technology connections and bring the best technology to her assignment.
As Madhu prepared to leave on her first foray, she considered the role of a lifetime. In the next six months she would be bringing new knowledge into Mercy Corps’ Kyrgyzstani microfinance institution to help construct effective back office operations, to identify bottlenecks, and to figure out how to upgrade their infrastructure, while providing strategic support and setting up the project team. It sounded like a daunting task to accomplish in six months; Madhu felt she was ready.
To learn more about corporate service fellowship programs, visit BuildingBlocks International or contact info@bblocks.org.
