I run the Shahnaz Memorial Trust. Among other things, the Trust aims to create rags to riches stories by giving interest-free loans to young entrepreneurs as a first step to their hopefully becoming millionaires. These youngsters cannot get bank loans, and the informal market charges at least 36% interest on unsecured loans, a huge hurdle.
Finding suitable candidates for the trust has proved elusive. With the help of a well-known NGO, we identified five “promising” entrepreneurs in Mirzapur, and gave them soft business loans. Alas, four of them have defaulted on loans. The fifth is doing well, pays instalments on time, and has now asked for and been given a second loan, interest-free.
