For the second time, Ujjivan ranked #1 in the Microfinance Industry as the Best Company to Work for, in 2011. What’s more, this year Ujjivan also ranked among India’s Best 25 Companies to Work for, across industry sectors.
The 2011 survey was conducted based on best practices and employee feedback by the Great Place to Work® Institute (India), in collaboration with The Economic Times, across companies in India, spanning various sectors and sizes, and including domestic players as well as MNCs. 67,000 employees in nearly 500 companies across 20 sectors were surveyed. The results give a first-hand feel of workplace culture from an employee perspective.
Top ranked companies in the survey were chosen based on criteria such as flexible working hours, fun at work, systematic career development, and work-life balance.
Ujjivan was presented with the Gold Social Performance Reporting Award in 2010. This is the second consecutive year that we have won the award.
The Social Performance Reporting award is launched by CGAP, together with partners, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the Social Performance Task Force (SPTF). Social Performance Management— the process of ensuring that an MFI acts in a socially responsible manner – is a critical factor in the measurement of the overall performance of an MFI. This award is a result of Ujjivan’s continuing emphasis on social performance as part of its operations, despite the financial crisis in late 2010 in India.
Ujjivan won the Srijan MFI Transparency Award 2010 in the Established MFI category from among a host of other large MFIs from around the country.
The Srijan 2010 MFI Transparency Award, instituted by Intellecap and supported by an eminent jury of experts, recognizes initiatives and practices within MFIs that enable them to be transparent and eventually fairer to their clients. The award jury comprising eminent industry experts from banking and investment, evaluated MFIs on the following criteria: 
Transparency in pricing and product design
Financial literacy initiatives promoting transparency with clients
Effectiveness of communication & reporting mechanisms
Organizational systems and innovative practices that promote transparency
Ujjivan was presented with the 2009 Social Performance Reporting Award – category Gold.
The social Performance Reporting awards were launched by CGAP, together with its partners the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Social Performance Task Force (SPTF). The award, powered by MIX, is designed to promote greater transparency in MFIs’ social performance. The award recognizes microfinance providers who provide reports on a set of social performance indicators that were developed over three years through consensus process involving industry leaders and led by SPTF. The awards were launched in order to respond to the growing need to answer questions around social impact and the follow through mission of MFIs.
The award was presented at the Microfinance India Summit, held in New Delhi on October 26,2009 and was attended by members of the Ujjivan leadership team: CEO Samit Ghosh, CFO Sudha Suresh, Head of Audit - Lalita Rao, COO (North) – Vikram Jetley and Head of Administration – Prem Kumar. G
The Great Place to Work Institute, India and Economic Times conducts a study every year to select the best companies to work for in India. This is the first year that Ujjivan participated in this study.
There are three factors used to evaluate
a company:
- Relationship between the employer
and employee
- Employee pride in his/her work
- Teamwork among employees
Approximately one third of Ujjivan’s
employees were randomly selected and surveyed
with a 59 question form. Based on
the surveys, employment satisfaction and
company culture were evaluated and rankings
given for different categories.
Upon
completion of the surveys for all participating
companies, Ujjivan ranked first in the microfinance
industry!
An award ceremony was held on June 9, 2009
in Pune that was attended by members of
the Ujjivan leadership team: MD/CEO Samit
Ghosh, Head of HR Col. Murthy Rajan, COO-West
Jolly Zachariah, and COO-East Gautam Gan.
The Director of the Economic Times and the
Vice President of the Times of India were
in attendance to present the awards.
Ujjivan was awarded the Microfinance Process Excellence
Award (MPEA) for excellence in process management
among Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs). The awards
were sponsored by ABN AMRO and RBS in partnership
with PlaNet Finance India.
The six month long process, culminating in the
award ceremony, involved an extensive application
and compliance process, training in Process Mapping
and Risk Analysis, and then performing this analysis
on Ujjivan’s own processes. Trainings were
attended by Brian Frazier and Sarmila Banerjee.
Applications and Analysis were led by Rajat Singh,
Veeresh Noolvi, Bhargav Krishna, Mamatha BR, Lance
Baptiste, and Dhirendra Singh.
The awards were classified into three categories
according to the size of competing MFIs –
Flint, Flame and Fire. Flint for young and emerging
institutions, Flame for mid sized established
institutions preparing for rapid growth phase,
and Fire for the large and established institutions
setting scorching standards. Award ceremony was
held at the Ashok Hotel in Delhi on 11th November
2008.
Ujjivan was awarded the Process Excellence Award
for the South Region in the Fire Category. Competitors
included finalists SKS, Grameen Koota, and Equitas
among others.
At the Unitus Leadership Summit held in Cebu,
Philippines, Ujjivan was awarded the Unitus Accelerator
Award. The award recognized Ujjivan’s role
in accelerating the microfinance industry, its
innovative approach, and the positive impact it
has on the lives of its customers. Ujjivan, a
partner of Unitus since 2006, was the first to
receive this prestigious award.
The award was presented to Ajit Grewal, Ujjivan’s
Executive Director by Geoff Davis, Unitus’
CEO, during the Leadership Summit’s closing
dinner.
The award ceremony concluded a dynamic three-day
conference that brought together CEOs and COOs
from Unitus’ global network of MFI partners.
The conference was sponsored by The Omidyar Network,
and included session led by Pierre Omidyar, founder
of eBay and co-founder of the Omidyar Network,
and Matt Bannick, former head of eBay International
and Managing Partner of Omidyar Network.
