Vijay Mahajan: The Engineer Who Showed India That The Rural Poor Is Credit Worthy

Vijay Mahajan, is the co-founder and founder of some of India’s most well known livelihoods and social enterprise groups: the NGO PRADAN, and the BASIX Social enterprise group that has transformed the livelihoods of over three million lower income households across twenty states in India, as well as in other countries across the world. Born in 1954, Mahajan graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 1970. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad in 1981 and in 1988 he spent time at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University as a mid-career fellow. He began his professional career at Phillips, a job that led him to travel extensively across rural India. After his MBA at IIM Ahmedabad, he joined the fabled NGO ASSEFA, and worked with the Bhoodan Movement in Bihar, the voluntary land reform movement where land was given to the landless poor. After working with the landless poor to develop the land they had received, through extensive land, agriculture and water development, Mahajan co-founded PRADAN, or Professional Assistance for Development Action in 1983 and in later years, the first entities that would grow to become the BASIX group in 1996. At BASIX, Mahajan led his team in offering agricultural and technical development assistance, livelihood financial services that included microfinance, and institutional development support. Today, Vijay Mahajan is the CEO of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and the director of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Contemporary Studies. He is in conversation with his former colleague and mentee, Preeti Sahai,an adaptive leadership educator and coach. This conversation was recorded at Vijay Mahajan’s office in Delhi. For more information, go to www.rohininilekaniphilanthropies.org Audio used: Unleashing change agents by PRADAN CHANNEL The Pioneering develolpment apporach of Basix by basix b