Milaap

Milaap
Social Enterprise
Industry Microfinance
Founded 2010
Headquarters Singapore and India
Area served
 India
Key people
 Co-founders Mayukh Choudhury, Sourabh Sharma and Anoj Vishwanathan
Website milaap.org

Milaap is an online fund-raising platform based in Bangalore, India and Singapore and was the first online microlending platform that enables non-Indians and non-resident Indians (NRIs) to make loans to India.[1] By sourcing funds from individuals all over the world, Milaap claims to be able to eliminate the need for its partners' Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) to borrow from banks.

Milaap and its field partners (NGOs and MFIs) facilitate and disburse the loans from online lenders to the borrowers. The loans are given out to borrowers at interest rates of 12-18%,[2] 50% lower than existing interest rates available to microcredit borrowers.[3] As of January 2012, working with four field partners, Milaap has raised USD $200,000 in loans and equity investment, from First Light Ventures, Unitus Seed Fund, and the Yunus Social Business Fund. 100

Lending

The website provides profiles of borrowers seeking a loan, listing their background and their need for the loan. Lenders can browse through the profiles, choose who they want to lend, and using their credit or debit card, make a loan online. The amount they choose to lend starts from USD 50 or Rs 500. After the loan has been repaid, it will be returned to lenders as credits which they can either withdraw or re-lend to other borrowers.[4]

Origin

Founded in June 2010 by Sourabh Sharma, Anoj Viswanathan and Mayukh Choudhury, it was inspired by the impact of a $10 solar lantern sold on credit to the extremely poor in tribal Orissa.[5]

It took Milaap almost a year to gain approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to enable lenders outside India to lend to Indians through the website.

Projects

In March 2014, Milaap partnered with IndusLadies.com, the largest online community for Indian women to celebrate International Women's Day. Together, they launched ‘Change a Life this Women’s Malathy JeyDay’ campaign: all community members of IndusLadies.com got the opportunity to experience making a $25 loan to a rural woman entrepreneur in India, on Milaap.[6]

Field partners

Awards and honours

References

  1. ↑ Lim, Joyce. "Milaap creates opportunities by being India's first global lending platform". E27. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  2. ↑ Akinyemi, Tayo. "Milaap Bridges the Gap for Microfranchisors". Next Billion. William Davidson Institiute, University of Michigan. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  3. ↑ "Milaap unites the moneyed and the cashless". Bangalore Mirror (Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd). 10 Nov 2010. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  4. ↑ Mahale, Sneha (8 Aug 2011). "Loan a little". Hindustan Times (HT Media). Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  5. ↑ Shivashankar, Nithya (2 November 2011). "Lending a hand". The Hindu. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  6. ↑ "Indian Crowdfunding Platform Milaap Partners with IndusLadies". Crowdfundinsider.com. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Warriors To Entrepreneurs: The Story Of Bhil Women". The Huffington Post. AOL. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  8. ↑ "Guardian MFI". Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  9. ↑ "ICF". Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  10. ↑ "Grameen Koota". Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  11. ↑ "SSK". Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  12. ↑ "Sakhi Retail". Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  13. ↑ "Global Social Venture Competition".
  14. ↑ "Startup Singapore".
  15. ↑ "Ideas Inc.". NTU.

External links

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