SHARE MICROFIN LIMITED
1990-91 SHARE's Formative Stage
Mr. M.Udaia Kumar, SHARE's Founder,Chairman and Managing Director (CMD),was involved in providing training programs to the rural poor enetrpreneurs in skills development.However, trainees were unable to access finance from financial institutions in order to put their skills to practice, limiting the impact of the training received.
At a conference on rural development he met a participant from the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh and heard about Grameen Bank. His interest was piqued and he traveled to Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. After being convinced that financial services can be provided without colleteral he took up a study on Grameen Bank, SEWA Bank, the informal financial sector and started the microfinance operations in SHARE which was a non profit entity.
1991-1994 Action Research Stage
SHARE (Society for Helping and Awakening Rural poor through Education) started micro-credit operations as a two year action research project with a recoverable grant of $25,000 from the Asia Pacific Development Centre, Malaysia and a soft loan of $35,788 from Grameen Trust, Bangladesh. Two branch offices were opened in Kurnool and Guntur Districts of Andhra Pradesh -- two distinctly different geographical and economic regions. The action research project achieved its targets within a year and SHARE continued to expand its activities through these two branches. The foundation for the future organisation ...