Ujjivan’s Carol Furtado bags FWA Leadership Award

Carol Furtado

By Naagesh Naaraayana

Microfinance Focus, Jan. 11, 2010:  Carol Furtado, Chief Operating Officer ( Southern Region) of Ujjivan Microfinance, has been selected as the 2009 recipient of the Financial Women’s Association of New York Women’s Leadership Award.
Each year the FWA has sponsored WWB’s Women in Leadership Workshop, a program to outstanding women leaders.
“We have selected two recipients for this year’s award, based on both professional merit as well as the confidence they have earned from peers and the leadership of their institutions. Carol Furtado has demonstrated considerable leadership capacity during her association with Ujjivan, and we are proud to be able to support her,” said Elizabeth A. Lynch, Manager of Center for Microfinance Leadership Women’s World Bank (WWB).
The award ceremony will take place on Tuesday night, January 12, 2010 in Bangalore.

Carol Furtado, who joined Ujjivan in April 2005, grew up in Chennai with her mother, father, younger brother and sister before the family moved to Bangalore. She studied at Jyothi Nivas College and at St. Joseph’s College of Arts & Science and for her MBA at Mount Carmel Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Just after her graduation, she and her brother met with a nearly fatal accident on a two-wheeler. Although there were many people around who witnessed the accident, the only people to quickly come to their aid and take them to the hospital were construction workers who were on their way to work. It was then that Carol realized that she eventually wanted to do something for the society and give back to the community in some way.

In April 1995, Carol began her career at ANZ Grindlays in the Asset Finance Division; after starting out in Operations, she moved to Credit and became a Lending Assessment Analyst with a higher Credit Approval Discretion than her peers and some superiors. She then shifted to BankMuscat, where she began as Assistant Manager of Retail Operations and was soon promoted to Manager of Retail Operations.

When Samit Ghosh (CEO& MD of Ujjivan), who was also working as the CEO of BankMuscat when Carol started, left BankMuscat to start a microfinance company, Carol was more than happy to join him since she was interested in helping the poor.

Shifting from the formal banking sector to the social sector proved quite easy given the people Carol was working with. The biggest change from her perspective was the need to think about the entire organization instead of just one function. As part of the core team that started Ujjivan, she took on several responsibilities and focused on many key aspects of the business. One of the biggest challenges then, which continues to be even today, is clear communication with ground level staff, to ensure that things are relayed in a manner that they can comprehend and then communicate to customers.

Carol’s mission, both professionally and personally, is simple: “Put your best into everything you do and leave the rest to God and there’s no telling how far you can go.”

Her most memorable experience at Ujjivan over the past four years was when the company crossed 10,000 customers. She was pleasantly surprised at how little time it took, and it was an affirmation in her mind that it was possible for Ujjivan to climb every mountain, no matter how high. She looks forward to the growth and expansion in the future and aspires to take Ujjivan to global level.

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