Self Help Groups

Self Help Groups (SHGs) are self-assembled groups of 15 to 20 rural women who come together to guarantee each other’s loans and form a learning and support group for one another.

The Self Help Group model involves two meetings a month facilitated by one of our member welfare associates. The first meeting revolves around loan repayment and other financial matters while the second meeting is a forum for information delivery.

As these groups are assembled in local communities, their members often do not know where to begin. They may not know how to seek employment or what type of business to start. They may not know where to locate markets to sell their products. Their businesses may not be profitable. When we offer microcredit loans to these groups, we commit not only to financially supporting these women but also to helping them overcome the many obstacles to their success.

Through our meeting forums we place a focus on continuous learning and exposure to markets to cultivate both the personal and business capabilities of individuals and expand their aspirations and opportunities. This self help group model reduces the cost of credit and information delivery and mitigates credit risk and the dynamic growth in our members increases our customer retention rate and results in various opportunities for additional revenue streams. See our sections on micromarkets and microeducation for more details on this.

Today we have over 400,000 members across about 20,000 Self Help Groups, a number that is growing steadily every day.