The Hindu Business Line : A day to remember

Queen Beatrix, Princess Maxima and Prince William-Alexander of the Netherlands, during a visit to Ujjivan Financial Services Pvt Ltd in Bangalore, talking to the beneficiaries of the microfinance organisation serving the economically-active urban poor

Our Bureau

Bangalore, Oct. 27 For the group of 10 women from the nearby locality of Jakkasandra, near Sarjapur Road, in Bangalore, the day will be a cherished one for years to come. And, why not? It’s not every day that one would expect to meet and interact with the royalty, that too, from the far-off Netherlands.

The visit of Her Majesty Queen Beatrix and William-Alexander, Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima of the Netherlands to Ujjivan Financial Services — a microfinance organisation serving the economically-active urban poor — would perhaps be more memorable to these women than its CEO Samit Ghosh, and his colleagues.

For, the Queen and her family took interest to enquire about them, their life, how they wanted to use the money from Ujjivan, and so on. Loans were disbursed to these poor women — two newly formed group with five members each — for businesses ranging from tailoring, to fruit and vegetable vending, and saree-selling.

The royal family’s visit to Ujjivan also included a presentation on its approach to urban microfinance. The company, which has around 38,240 customers — about 7,648 groups — in 27 branches across Bangalore, Delhi and Kolkata, has disbursed loans of about Rs 24.66 crore as on September 30.

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