Madhu Anand, a Cisco Leadership Fellow and a Business Operations Manager at Cisco Systems, had prepared herself for the poverty of Kyrgyzstan. She had committed six full months to helping create a technology and software backbone designed to increase the operational efficiency of Mercy Corps microcredit institution in Kyrgyzstan, Kompanion. Of the country’s five million citizens, almost one in two are below the poverty line.

What Madhu found in Kyrgyzstan would challenge her assumptions of what poverty means.

“I went to a field site in Karakol, a town of 60,000 people located about 400 kilometers east of Bishkek [Kyrgyzstan’s capital], and saw lights, hot and cold running water, and people using the Internet. I had expected the town to have fewer amenities. Then I went to the rest room…

…an outhouse with an open pit toilet.

I wouldn’t have been surprised if Karakol was without electricity and running water. I WAS surprised at the big anomaly between the Internet, lights, electricity and… no flush toilet. Clearly their priorities are driven by what technology can offer for the future. Basics, if they work, will be addressed later! This indicates to me a huge market for technology and other consumer items.”

Madhu’s true measure of success will only come after the technology and software backbone she is helping to develop is finally implemented AND Kompanion’s transactional costs are reduced. By that point, Madhu will be long gone.

For her part, Madhu feels fortunate to be participating in the Cisco Leadership Fellows program. The experience has blended corporate social responsibility and professional development. “I am learning an enormous amount that I wouldn’t learn in my job at Cisco.”

My final question to Madhu: Would you do this again?
Her answer: Anytime.

To learn more about corporate service fellowship programs, visit BuildingBlocks International or contact info@bblocks.org.

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.

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.