The story of the tortoise and the hare is always told from the point of view of the tortoise. But what if it was told from the hare’s point of view? Will that change the way we look at the winner and the loser of the race? With this thought, we wanted to tell the story of an entrepreneur who wants to get a bank loan from more than one perspective. This is the story of Manjeri, a young tribal woman who applies for a loan at the local rural bank. This is also the story of Nandan, the loan manager at the bank.
Nandan and Manjeri
Manjeri wants to get a loan to start a business of renting bicycles. Her plan is to buy 10 cycles that she will rent to girls so that they can go to the secondary school in town; she will also rent bicycle to people who go to work a few kilometers away but don’t want to spend too much money traveling in buses. Manjeri goes with her business plan to the bank and explains her idea to the loan manager. He listens to her and asks her to come back with a completed form. But when she brings back the filled in loan application form, he sends her back again because she doesn’t have any one to guarantee her loan. And when she manages to get a guarantor, he sends her away again because she doesn’t have any collateral. Every time persistent Manjeri would come to the bank, she would be sent back to get another signature, another document, another form stamped.
Manjeri sent away every time
Nandan is a loan manager at the local bank. Everyday, many people come to him asking him to give them a loan for something or the other. When Manjeri comes to him with her idea of starting a cycle renting business, he appreciates the idea and is impressed by her planning and the thought that has gone into the business plan. But he knows that because she is a first time entrepreneur, he cannot give her the loan and at the same time, he doesn’t have the heart to say NO to her directly.
Nandan does not want to say NO directly
Does Manjeri get the loan or will she have to give up on her dream of starting a business? Find out more when the book comes out early 2011.
What happens to Manjeri's dream?