Most of us fail to realise what it means when we talk about “reaching out” to our customers. Let me take this opportunity to recount a story. The story cannot be checked. But if you have done a stint at a rural branch or know someone who did, you will have such stories. I heard this one from a friend who heard this from his friend who is now quite famous.

The story goes somewhat like this. As a young probationer in India’s largest public sector bank, his first posting was in a remote village in Murshidabad, West Bengal. In the 1980s, the branch had a staff strength of three—the probationer, a peon and a manager. One day, in the second week of the probationer’s posting, he was sitting alone in the branch. The peon was out, so was the manager. An elderly woman burst in crying, “my Budhiya is lost.” After some interrogation, the probationer realised that Budhiya was a goat that the woman had bought with a bank loan.

Just then, the manager happened to return to the branch. He took in the situation quickly, shoos the probationer, saying, “What are you looking at? Run! Find it before someone eats it! This is still our asset!”

A city-bred person, the probationer didn’t know where to look for the goat, let alone identify it. But the goat was finally found and returned to the woman, and all was well!

That was the last mile then. The goalposts have shifted, and it is up to us, the microfinance industry, to transform the economic landscape. The story that I recounted here has turned even more challenging. Geographical access and handholding the customers as they turn a loan into a productive activity has become more challenging. However, each customer interaction brings with it enriching strategic learning. Increasing digital reach has lightened the burden for operations, but the challenge of physical contact remains.

What makes all this worthwhile is to hear a customer who had been living a day-to-day existence now planning for the next loan cycle. A customer who couldn’t think of sending her kids to school now aspires to send them to college for a degree. A customer who worried about her family’s next meal now employs others.

Like the anecdote above, it’s always satisfying to bring the lost goat back home to the customers. Challenges notwithstanding, this is what keeps us ticking and motivated.