Bill Gates at Uttam Nagar

We were told that some senior officials from the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation would be visiting our pilot site at Uttam Nagar (Delhi) and that we had to give them a demo.

Almost 9:00 am on the 4th, we were pleasantly surprised to see Bill Gates himself along with a few other family members walk in to our small office there!

Bill Gates came across as a keen listener, sharp thinker, avid note-taker and someone who asked just the right questions. It is always a pleasure interacting with someone who just needs the bullet points and obvious sub-points never need to be stated :). To be honest, not many people in high positions to whom we have spoken to (or tried to speak to) were as down-to-earth and even a fraction as sharp as he was. In fact, most 'top' guys would rather send their subordinates for a visit rather than take the pain and time for visiting a place like this.

He even took time to visit 'Gupta Medicos' a shop which used be an 'Eko Relationship Center' to hear first-hand what they felt about Eko.

All in all, that was one great day in each Eko member's life. In spite of our challenges, the very fact that we seem to be on a track which has at least created a 'micro' interest in a man no less than Bill Gates himself is something that gives our team a huge boost.

My first month at Eko, an intro

Its been almost a month (though Feb is a short month) since I joined Eko. The past few weeks have been typically hectic with Eko launching its 5000 customer target pilot in Delhi.

Before I proceed any further, I guess it would be appropriate to point out what exactly Eko is all about.

Eko (www.eko.co.in) - startup based in Delhi, India aims at extend banking facilities in these untapped/un-banked areas through the use of mobile phone as a channel; currently there are over 200 million mobile phone subscribers (GSM & CDMA). Eko is looking to ensure greater financial inclusion and increase the outreach of the banking sector as envisaged by RBI – the Indian Federal Bank through the use of Business Correspondent Model.

Eko’s unified approach to financial services will address two key challenges - ubiquity and comprehensiveness of range of financial services. Often financial services with the focus for financial inclusion have resulted in high transaction & servicing costs, inadequate collection & use of customer information, and a focus on credit based services leading to the exclusion of more needed services including Savings.

Our first initiative is “Branchless Banking” using mobile phone as a channel. For now we have initiated a pilot project at Uttam Nagar in Delhi in partnership with Centurion Bank of Punjab under the “Business Correspondent” model. Our first offering is “Abhilasha” - No Frills Savings Account to customers with only two transaction - deposits and withdrawals.

Customers are acquired through Eko Relationship Officers (EROs: local salesmen of the locality with full KYC and good banking record) while they can transact (deposits and withdrawals) at Eko Cash Points (ECPs: local retail shops). EROs are remunerated for customer acquisition while the ECPs are remunerated per transaction.

The model is such that money is deposited to the bank, through the distribution chain of ECPs, even before the savings are mobilized from the retail customers. Hence there is no exposure to the bank. Subsequently, ECPs mobilize savings from retail customers. The customers have all the protections extended just like any other depositor with a bank.

Eko issues Signature Booklets (filed for patent) to every account holder. The Signature Booklet is used to secure the transactions and ensures more than ATM like security for the transactions. Eko also issues a comic for easy communication to the customers.

Eventually, multiple value added services would be offered to the members, through the network of EROs and ECPs including more credit and savings product apart from transactional services.

We would like to invite all those interested to visit our Pilot site at Uttam Nagar in Delhi. The directions are:
1. Take the Delhi Metro Blue line, get down at the 'Uttam Nagar West' station.
2. Once there, if you are facing west (or looking opposite to the direction of 'Uttam Nagar East' station), take the first turn left immediately after the station.
3. Ask directions for Eko, T 105, 'Shukkar Bazar' Road. (Its essentially three blocks straight and three blocks right from the beginning of the road and normally you zig-zag one block straight and one block right at a time)
4. Keep watching en-route to spot shops (medicos, groceries) sporting the eko signboard.

The following is the location of the Pilot Project on Wikimapia (you have to reach somewhere near the bottom left corner):



In my next post (when I get the time for it) I will post with pictures and illustrations how the transactions are carried out. So folks, watch out this space!