Microinvesting

Please scroll down to see updates.
We shall put up a separate communication channel as the project matures.
In the meantime, please stay updated by visiting this page (and scrolling down) and via the BIC Yahoo group & SMS Updates.

thanking you,
musa


The 1st meeting with Target Group for Support the Poor Invest


Date: Sunday, 10 July.
Time: 2.30 to 6.30 pm.
Venue: St. Alphonsus High School,No. 1, Davis Road, (Off Tannery Road)
Near Clarence School / ICICI Bank Richards Park.Bangalore - 560084.

DIRECTIONS:
(If you prefer Come to BIC Office then proceed as below ...)
Come to Haji Ismail Sait (Fraser Town) Mosque on Mosque Road, Fraser Town.
Proceed towards Clarence School - you will go over the railway tracks.
Just after you go over the tracks, you will see Clarence School. Take a LEFT Turn here.
Proceed 200m down and take the FIRST RIGHT.
Proceed till you get the THIRD LEFT.
Come down about 200m and you will see Alphonsus School on the right.
We are in a Ground Floor classroom which you will see right in front of you when you enter the gate.


Proposed Agenda:
2.30 to 5.30 pm: Interact with the Target Group (we are expect 30+ folks).
Put the idea across, listen to their views.
6 to 7 pm: A meeting with Volunteers to discuss their experience of the meeting and
chalk out the next set of actions.

Who should attend?
1. Volunteers & those interested in the Micro Investing project.
2. If you would like to bring your maids / drivers / anyone for this meet, please do do.

If you are coming or are bringing some folks from the Target Group you need to Register Here to help us organise for the numbers of folks that will be coming.

If you have any questions, please call 93419 67573 or email info@bangaloreinvestorsclub.com
Looking forward to your participation and support.
Watch out for updates.

Regards,
musa


Hi All,

Over the last few months, I have been speaking to some of you about how we could get together to support the lower economic strata of society to get into the financial mainstream. I am talking about our maid servants, drivers, autorickshaw drivers, road sweepers, vegetable vendors, drivers, peons, office assistants etc ... How can we get them into the financial mainstream?

I am sure many of us would have heard of stories of their exploitation by various folks (money-lenders, petty bank runners, etc). Many such folks don't even have a bank account (leave aside a PAN Number, etc). However all these folks are much more in need of that extra hundred rupees than you and I are. AND ... there are MANY MANY schemes (Post Office Schemes, Corporate and Bank Deposits, Micro SIPs, Direct Equity, Gold & Equity ETFs, etc) that these folks can benefit from but are mostly unaware of them. I can also add that after having one very enlightening session with a small group of such folks, I can vouch that they are very enthusiastic about the same!

Can we come together to take on a Community Project to reach out to such folks in our house holds, places of work to participate in India's growth story? Just to clarify, I am NOT for telling them what to do and where to invest, rather I am interested in creating a resource pool where we can educate such folks as to what their options are and support them in implementing the choice THEY MAKE.

This is NOT about charity BUT IT IS about you contributing your time, effort and energy to MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE by reaching out to 5-10 such folks in your life, educate them and guide them to do the right thing for them and their families.

If you are called by this and would like to participate in, what I like to call, democratisation of wealth, then please do make it convenient to attend a brain storming session as below.

Venue: Bangalore Investors Club. 45 Netaji Road, Fraser Town, Bangalore - 560 005.
Date:    Saturday, 25 June.
Time:   2.30 to 5.30 pm.
Topic:  Just bounce ideas and see what we can come up with the make this as large a movement as possible.

Ideally, this would have been a much better mail with a lot more lead time but you know what, I just got fed up of waiting for the perfect moment and decided to go for it! So please treat this as a personal invitation do come and enrich the idea with your ideas! Kindly take a few minutes to Register Here so that we know who are interested and we can create a separate communication channel for this.

Regards,
musa


Minutes of the First Micro Investing meet.

On Sat, 25 June, 3 to 5.30 pm at the BIC.


Attendees:
  • Pauline Mary - works for Habitat for Humanity project, an international NGO.
  • Varghese Philip - Entrepreneur.
  • Rejenish Umapathy - Cisco Webex.
  • Prakash - TCS
  • Sujay MP - Nokia
  • Sunil Sharma - Trader.
  • Afrose Parveen - Dentist.
  • Musa Kaiser - BIC, Assets.
  • 3 others - from AP
Wanted to attend / would like to be a part of the group but could not attend:
  • Anwar Koya - Doha, Qatar.
  • James Kumar. Bangalore.
  • Dr. Flossie Jayakaran, Former Prof. of Anatomy, India. Also based in Zimbabwe, South Africa & USA.
  • Rajaram - working on Fuel Cells & Clean Energy, Bangalore & US.
  • Dharmesh - CA, Australia.
  • Suresh - Derivatives Trader.
  • Kumar Ramachandran - CEO, Wintegral.
  • Yasmeen Iqbal - Founder, Ahaan Foundation.
  • Sameer Ahmed - Aircraft Quality Engineer, Dubai, Hyderabad.
  • Asha PH, Trader, ex-Intel.
  • Tushar, Wipro, Trader.
  • Nilofer Amlani - Axis bank.
  • Vinay CA, London, Trader, Entrepreneur.
  • Many others.

Minutes:
  • Introduction by members present.
  • Musa presented the idea and stated what was the idea and what was NOT the idea. Salient points:
    • Get the lower socio-economic group to participate in investing.
    • Connect schemes, services, opportunities with the target group.
    • Scope of the project.
    • Challenges in the project.
    • His experience in supporting Gowramma, the street-sweeper of his road in investing into a Mutual Fund.
    • His experience with the a pilot meeting with 6 maids and their keenness & enthusiasm to invest.
  • Thereafter it was an open ended discussion on various issues that attendees visualised that could happen.
  • Pauline provided valuable inputs from her extensive and rich on-field experience on
    • How we could approach the target group & issues related to that.
    • The 230+ Community Colleges in India.
    • The need for high levels of ethics.
    • Requirements of audits.
    • Her experience with the pilot meeting she organised with 6 maids.
  • Verghese Philip spoke on
    • How one could reach out to different areas, especially in Tamil Nadu.
    • How his company / organisation that is involved in TeleMedicine could add financial services.
    • The need for networking to spread the idea.
  • Rejenish Umapath spoke on Technology & Organisation.
    • What sorts of technology setups could be used to support the project.
    • To replicate the idea across places.
    • The need to organise and put a formal structure to the project.
    • Asked why Gowramma was not replicated.
  • Sunil Sharma spoke on incorporating a Cooperative Society and the advantages of doing the same, with a focus on
    • Collective Investing.
    • Support from government.
  • Prakash from TCS volunteered to
    • Lead training sessions.
    • Spread the word.
  • Sujay MP brought up the idea of
    • Various organisations to partner for the project.
    • Of getting the idea into his company (Nokia) & their drivers.
    • The above idea was explored for other organisations.
  • Afrose Parveen
    • Spoke on how the domestic helps she has had make bad investments and get taken for a ride.
    • The difference that the project could make.

Other topics that were brought up:
  • Communication strategies.
  • Language issues and how to do this across different languages.
  • Advising vs Education.
  • Resource centre vs Implementation Services.
  • Play small vs play big.
  • Reaching out to the target group that work directly under us.
  • Creating leaders within the target group.
  • Need for volunteers within the project to take on and deliver various tasks.
  • Financial costs that may come up.

The Meeting ended with:
  • Keep options open.
  • Request to spread the word & keep suggestions coming in.
  • Do some pilot meets
    • To explore how the groups respond to the idea.
    • Learn from these meetings and develop ideas, processes and structures based on this learning.
    • The 1st Pilot meet is likely to be on Sun, 10 July. The meet is targeted to have an interaction with this lower socio-economic group. Folks interested in the project are also invited to participate and provide feedback.
This Minutes ends with a heart felt Thanks to all those who attended, emailed and called in. Get in touch to get connected.




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