Vikram Akula—SKS Microfinance Private Limited
Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2006 finalist Vikram Akula was named by TIME Magazine as one of the world’s 100 most influential people
Headquarter in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
Year established: 1998
Area of Activity: Microfinance
SKS Microfinance applies global business practices to the field of microfinance. Known as the ‘Starbucks of Microfinance’, SKS standardizes and automates microfinance processes. Indeed, SKS was the fastest growing microfinance institution from 1998—2004 and has benefited approximately 1.5 million individuals through income generating loans.
The commercial sector has traditionally avoided the rural sector, deeming it un-profitable and risky. This has led many of the 800 million poor to turn to exploitative moneylenders. While the India microfinance industry has thus far provided approximately Rs 200 billion in capital already, it is estimated that the poor still need 10 times this amount!
SKS reduces transactional costs and scales rapidly through the SKS Acceleration Model. This model applies principles from Starbucks and McDonald's. First, it creates standardized business processes. By honing processes down to shaving seconds off of procedures like SHG meetings or loan entries, SKS has controlled for high variance in process and procedure. This ensures quality while rapidly growing. Second, SKS automates microfinance through proprietary back office and field technology that has won multiple awards for both accessibility and ease of use. This technology reduces manual processing thereby minimizing intensive labor costs and error or fraud. Furthermore, the ease of use allows for anyone with a highschool education can manage the system. The result is a sustained organizational growth rate of 300% and a provision of over Rs. 320 crores in loans to 322,000 poor women in 11 states of India.
Vikram Akula was born in Hyderabad and moved to the US when he was only 3 years old. He witnessed India’s poverty on numerous family visits to India and made a promise to himself to do something to eradicate poverty. Vikram has over a decade of work and research experience in microfinance and is a former management consultant with McKinsey & Company. He was a Fulbright Scholar in India, during which he coordinated an action-research project on providing micro-credit for food security. He holds a B.A. from Tufts, an M.A. from Yale, and has a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. His Ph.D. dissertation focused on the impact of microfinance. He has received several awards for his work with SKS, including the Echoing Green Public Service Entrepreneur Fellowship. In 2006, Vikram was named by TIME Magazine as one of the world’s 100 most influential people.
