Why Rishi gave $8000 to Milaap
By Hitesh Shetty

Milaap.org describes itself as ‘an online platform that enables you to lend to India's working poor so they can get access to education, clean water, energy and more. It’s a loan, not a donation. This means you get your full loan amount back once your borrower repays it.’ One of its co-founders Sourabh has a successful record with startups and helped launch Milaap in June 2010.

Co-founded by Anoj, Sourabh and Mayukh, Milaap has drawn many like minded idealistic pragmatists to help offer practical solutions to alleviate poverty in India.  It has won a swag of awards including NUS Practicum Award, Top 10 at iDiya 2010 @ ISB, Winner of RYSEC, Asia-Africa Regional Finalists @ GSVC,  Semifinalist at Ideas Inc - (Competition in Progress),  Finalist at Startup @ Singapore (Competition in Progress) and Level 3 Incubation by Unltd India.

Techgoss tracked down Singapore based techie Rishi Kumar on why he has donated substantial amounts to Milaap. Rishi is the Co-founder and COO of Zimplisti

Techgoss (TG): Tell us about your educational qualification? What kind of IT have you studied? Which IT companies and software did your work with?
Rishi Kumar: I did Bachelors of Computing from National University of Singapore. I started with working for a startup followed by a large company for a total of one and a half years before I started my own venture. I’ve spent most of my working years on various mobile application development technologies.

TG: How did you come to know about the Milaap service? How do you explain the Milaap model to a lay person?
Rishi Kumar: Milaap to me is a simple online service that empowers anyone and everyone to start contributing towards social issues close to their heart. Since the contribution is in the form of a loan and not a donation, it also allows them to multiply the impact they create by relending the repayments which in my opinion is a much superior alternative to donations for many social issues.

TG: At what stage in your life did you start thinking of doing social work of any kind?  Were there any triggers related to it?
Rishi Kumar: I was taught as a child about the importance of sharing. I used to volunteer my time through Singapore Sindhi Association which I was a part of for 8 years. However, Life got busier recently and thankfully now I can continue to do my little bit through Milaap.

 
TG: How much have you contributed as a lender to the Milaap cause till date? Apart from lending, in what other way would you like to get involved with Milaap endeavor in the future?
Rishi Kumar: I’ve loaned out 8k dollars through Milaap. The other thing that Milaap needs is for people who’ve experienced it and think it actually makes a difference, to spread the word. That is what I try to do.

TG: Will an innovative service like Milaap be a boon for the poor borrowers in the future and virtually end the menace of Micro Financing companies in India, who not only collect high interest loans from the poor, but also end up harrassing the poor? Further, in your opinion, Is Milaap a partial solution to rural entrepreneurship?
Rishi Kumar: I am not an expert on microfinance and have no comments on this.

TG: Do you believe that people from IT sector should contribute more to a cause like Milaap, which could improve living conditions of many underprivileged people?
Rishi Kumar: Milaap is an innovative way of tackling an age old problem more efficiently and enables everyone to contribute, not just IT folks.  IT people can go the extra mile by leveraging their skills in spreading awareness about Milaap.