Abstract

Chetna Vijay Sinha’s (Sinha) Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank (MDMSB) was working toward transforming the lives of millions of rural women in western India by offering innovative and customized financial products suited to their requirements. Sinha was motivated to start the bank when she saw the sad plight of rural woman. In 15 years, MDMSB had come a long way, increasing financial literacy among rural woman and empowering them to be self reliant and independent. The bank, which disbursed loans only to women, played an important role in bringing about social and economic improvements in the lives of people living in a remote and drought prone region in India. MDMSB also won many awards for its innovative business plan and social entrepreneurship and for developing women entrepreneurs. Though the bank had come a long way, it still had to go beyond its boundaries to achieve the vision which Sinha had set. The bank is taking tough decisions on scaling up and is trying to replicate its business model in order to grow. The case talks about this bank for women and the woman behind it. It explains the idea behind this bank and sketches its history, highlighting the unique issues and challenges which it encountered and how it overcame them. The case also gives details of the positive impact this bank has had on western India and gives scope for a debate on whether the bank, which is planning to expand to the rest of India, will be able to replicate its business model and achieve the success which it has seen so far.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand how a social entrepreneur can build a sustainable business in developing markets, to serve the population at the bottom of the pyramid.
• Analyze Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank’s factors of success and measure the impact it had on rural women
• Understand the characteristics of the woman behind this idea, Chetna Vijay Sinha
• Analyze the need and challenges in scaling up a business which works on small margins for the bottom of the pyramid

Keywords

Social Entrepreneurship,Chetna Vijay Sinha,Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank,Financial Inclusion,First all-woman bank,Micro-financing,Financial literacy,Reserve Bank of India