Mr. Vikram Akula
CEO
Vikram Akula is the Founder and CEO of SKS Microfinance, an organization with a mission to eradicate poverty by providing poor women with small loans and other financial services.
For his work with SKS, Vikram was named by TIME Magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2006.
Today, SKS is the largest microfinance institution in India, having provided nearly 3 million poor families a range of micro-insurance products and close to $1 billion in unsecured micro-loans, with a 99% on-time repayment rate.
SKS adds over 100 new branches and 300,000 new members a month, with an annual growth rate of over 200%, one of the fastest in the industry. This pace has attracted equity investments from premier venture capitalists including Vinod Khosla and Sequoia Capital.
Vikram is a former management consultant with McKinsey & Company, was a Fulbright Scholar. He holds a B.A. from Tufts, an M.A. from Yale, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
He was selected in India as the Schwab Social Entrepreneur of the Year and the Ernst & Young Start-Up Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2008, he was named to the World Economic Forum's annual list of Young Global Leaders.
He has been featured in media ranging from CNN to the front page of the Wall Street Journal. |
