Carol Furtado is the Chief Operating Officer of the South region, after serving as Head of Operations and Manager of Operations previously. She joined Ujjivan in April 2005.

Carol grew up in Chennai with her mother, father, younger brother and sister. The family moved to Bangalore after she completed 8th standard. Life growing up was very carefree and enjoyable. She was encouraged to get involved in extracurricular activities, including various sports and music. Although conservative in nature, her parents were very open to trying and learning new things, which provided Carol the independence and foundation that would carry her forward throughout her life.

Carol completed her PUC at Jyothi Nivas College, her Degree at St. Joseph’s College of Arts & Science and her MBA (post graduate) at Mount Carmel Institute of Management, Bangalore. She was unclear what she wanted to study and tried many subjects over the years, including Biology, Physics, Mathematics, Electronics, Commerce, English literature, and finally did her MBA with a specialization in Finance.

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.

Samit Ghosh (CEO& MD of Ujjivan) was also working as the CEO of BankMuscat when Carol started, and he subsequently left BankMuscat to start a microfinance company. Samit came back and asked Carol if there was anyone interested in joining him in starting up this company – she immediately said that she was interested. Carol had some knowledge of the NGO and social sector and had purposefully not entered that line of work yet because she recognized the need for a professional environment with controls in place to ensure quality. She always knew that she wanted to do something for the society, and she saw this as her opportunity to do that in an environment that would foster growth and sustainability. She left Bank Muscat, joined Ujjivan and since then, she hasn’t looked back.

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 a variety of responsibilities and focused on many key aspects of the business. One of the biggest challenges then, which continues to be a challenge now, 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 & leave the rest to God and there’s no telling how far you can go. Her most memorable experience at Ujjivan over these past 4 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 international!