Dhansamruddhi Helping People in Low Income Group To Own A Dream Home
A well constructed house leads to hygienic living conditions reducing sickness, improving productivity and in general improving standard of living of any one who lives in such houses. Many people who fall into low income group either are unable to build a well constructed house due to lack of self-funding or are unable to get loans from banks due to stringent conditions on part of banks. Today we are introducing you to the founder of a social enterprise focused on providing technology based credit solutions to people in lower income group- Dhansamruddhi. As a part of financial inclusion of weaker section of the society, Dhansamruddhi has designed a set of products for people in low income group who are eligible for borrowing without loosing the stringency of eligibility checks but at the same time minimizing risk of default
Dhansamruddhi is a for-profit social enterprise currently focusing on providing technology based credit solutions to people in lower income group. Currently, they have started providing financial services for line-of-credit purpose for salaried and small business owners. They are also venturing into ‘Home Improvement Loans’ for people living in temporary and semi-permanent structures. Their aim is to improve standard of living of under served population through financial empowerment.
Lets see what the founder of Dhansamruddhi has to say about their venture and explore how their venture is helping people with low income to own a home.
1. What is the Name of Your Venture? Any specific reason for this name?
Name of our venture is Dhansamruddhi Innovations Pvt. Ltd. (DIPL). Dhansamruddhi stands for growth of wealth hence the name.
2. Who is your target Audience/clients?
People in low income group (LIG) are our target clients as these are huge in number (> 50% of adults) in India. These people typically have an annual income of < Rs. 3 L per year.
3.Where is your venture based (city, state, country) & What are your geographical target areas?
Venture started in Pune, Mahrashtra, India and is now expanding in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. We are targeting entire India.
4.What problems does your venture resolve? What are your products or services?
We solve funding needs of people in LIG by providing a Line of Credit (LoC) for recurring funding needs and Group Home Loan (GHL) for funding needs of home construction/renovation
5.Share the idea or story behind the venture. How did it came to an existence? What motivated you to start your own venture?
Me and my partner were involved in earlier venture called Gruhaa which was started to help people in LIG build permanent structures for their homes. We had a lot of people interested but almost 98/100 did not have enough funding to get started. Hence we started this DIPL venture to help them with funding.
6.Who are your biggest competitors and how do you differentiate yourself from them?
Any bank or financial institution that provides financial services to LIG can be considered as our competitors. However, we have a unique product, LoC that is designed for people in LIG and can be customized as needed
7.How did you identify your co-founder? Tell us some thing about your co-founder/s
My co-founder is my nephew and we were involved with Gruhaa earlier
8.How did you hired your first team members? What skills Do you want in your employees/team?
We hired first team members from our former co-workers
9.What expansion plans are you looking for the next 2 years, next 5 years?
In next 2 years we hope to completely become an NBFC and expand our presence in all of India within 5 years
10.Where do you want to see yourself in next 10 years?
In next 10 years, we see ourselves as one of the critical funding resources for all of LIG in India
11.What are your goals over the next 1, 3, 6 and 12 months?
In next 12 months we plan to start operations in Bangalore as a NBFC
12.Have you raised any funding? Or have any plans for the funding?
Yes we raised some funding as part of defining Minimum Viable Product (MVP). We plan to raise 2.5 Cr in funding to become NBFC
13.What were the problems you faced during the starting days and how did you resolve them?
One of the major problems was to raise funding for MVP. We talked to multiple parties to raise required funding for MVP and got one to give us enough funding to complete our MVP
14.What was the most challenging part of your journey till now? How did you overcome those challenges?
The most challenging part has been to raise funding to purchase NBFC license and meet regulatory compliance as NBFC
15.Are you married, single or in a relationship?
Married
16.What are your hobbies? What do you do in your non-work time?
One of my hobbies is to read books which I usually do during spare time
17.Whats your favorite food & holiday destination?
My favorite food is seafood and my favorite holiday destination is Goa
18.Whom do you consider your idol or biggest motivator?
Bill Gates
19.What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?
Entrepreneurs get to learn all aspects of business in a short time while those who work for some one else, you need to spend a lot of time working in different roles to get the same amount of experience
20.If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
I would start as an entrepreneur
21.How has being an entrepreneur affected your family & Social life?
It has not impacted my family as I had worked for over 25 years in IT and have ensured that my decision to be an entrepreneur does not affect my family
22.Anything, you would like to say to our readers or upcoming entrepreneurs?
One should not impact one’s family as a result of following your dreams in a big way. Of course, they will support you but that does not mean their support should be taken for granted
23.Tell us something about your education & family background.
I have done my MS in Computer Science followed by MBA. I primarily grew up in Mumbai and hence have seen first hand the excitement of entrepreneurs
24.What is your USP which makes it unique & different from other start-ups in similar domains.
Our products and the fact that we encourage socially responsible investing from our lenders is our USP and differentiates us from other similar startups
25. What do you think is the biggest threat to the success of small businesses & Start-ups today?
Lack of sufficient funding to sustain till a startup becomes profitable is the biggest threat
26. Do you consider yourself successful and by what means do you measure success?
I am in a financial position to retire today if I choose to do so which has been considered by few financial planners as a sign of success
27.Please share complete name, address, phone number, email id & website of Your Business & Contact Person
Website : www.dhansamruddhi.in
Email : [email protected]
Name : Narendra Nesarikar
Mobile: 8390788855
