Each JanaOne centre will focus on working with a specific sub-set of Janalakshmi’s existing group-based customers who have been with the organisation for over 2 years, and whose financial needs are greater than can be met through the traditional group lending model. For such customers, Janalakshmi helps to define their financial roadmap and then provides the specific product needs that arise, so that a JanaOne centre becomes a one-stop-shop for all their financial needs. The company also provides a range of financial planning and literacy tools to these customers.
Inaugurating the first JanaOne centre in Bangalore, Rama Bijapurkar, India’s foremost consumer insights expert, and board member of Janalakshmi said, “This initiative by Janalakshmi to deepen its relationship with customers is a pioneering approach not only in financial inclusion but in the financial services space itself. It is the result of over 2 years of work by the firm, building upon its strong technology and data driven platform to help create a truly client-centric approach to financial inclusion. I am delighted to be inaugurating the first JanaOne centre and am sure that this will make an impact in the lives of the urban excluded. ”
Speaking at the launch, V.S.Radhakrishnan, MD-CEO of Janalakshmi said, “After more than 2 years of work in understanding the aspirations and needs of our customers, we can say that the bottom of the pyramid is not a monolithic group but that there is actually a pyramid at the bottom of the pyramid. For Janalakshmi, we have clustered our customers into 3 distinct segments – we call them Include, Nurture and Accelerate. Each segment has different capacities, different aspirations and therefore different needs for financial services.”
The JanaOne initiative is focused on the Accelerator segment. As a concrete example, Janalakshmi has 9,285 customers in Tilak Nagar area, where the first JanaOne centre is being launched. Key characteristics of these customers are:
- 7,022 are either illiterate or have only basic secondary-school level education
- Over two-thirds of customers are between the ages of26 and 45
- Only 29% of clients live in their own homes, the remaining are in rental accommodation
- From an employment standpoint, 20% are garment workers, 30% are cooks or housemaids and 6% of husbands are personal drivers for companies or middle class households
- Most importantly, 50% of women clients or their husbands already have various forms of well-established petty trade or business – auto-rickshaw drivers, flower sellers, fruit and vegetable vendors, painters, carpenters, tailors and so on
Among this group, a large number have been with Janalakshmi for 2 yearsover 2 group loan cycles, are self-employed and fulfil other key characteristics, making them potential Accelerator customers. Janalakshmi works with such customers through its JanaOne centres, identifying areas where it can be of help by providing access to a range of financial services, and helping accelerate their pathway to prosperity.
Over the coming 12 months, the company intends to roll out more JanaOne centres, each of which will be linked with a specific branch of the company.
About Janalakshmi – a unique social business
Janalakshmi (literal translation, ‘People’s Wealth’), is a ‘social business’. It embraces market principles while pursuing a social objective. To accomplish this, Janalakshmi has been designed in a 2-tier structure:
A (Section 25) not-for-profit holding company called Janalakshmi Social Services - in which all promoter stakes are held. Funds in Janalakshmi Social Services can only be used to address social issues; and
For-profit operating companies for investors
Janalakshmi Financial Services
Janalakshmi Financial Services is a for-profit NBFC MFI, with the promoter stake held in the not-for-profit entity Janalakshmi Social Services. This is the only MFI in India structured in such a manner, with the deliberate intent of keeping the social spirit intact.
Janalakshmi Financial Services’ market-based approach to financial inclusion is defined by three distinct characteristics: first, an exclusive focus on servicing the needs of the urban poor; second, a strong customer-value driven approach in designing financial products and services; third, the centrality of technology and processes as the foundation of a scalable enterprise.
As of June 2012, JFS operates across 66 branches in 42 cities across 12 states in the country, and has over five lakh customers. (for more information on Janalakshmi Financial Services, http://www.janalakshmi.com/).
Sourced From: Integrated Brand-comm Pvt Ltd.
