五常・アンド・カンパニーでは現在東京ベースの会計・経理およびIR・資金調達のポジションを募集しております。ご興味をお持ちの方はぜひ12/8(金)19時~20時に開催するキャリアセミナー「Gojo Career Talk」(オフィス及びオンライン同時開催)にご参加ください。皆様にお会いできるのを楽しみにしております。
We are currently recruiting a bilingual Accountant and IR/Fundraising based in Tokyo at Gojo & Company, Inc. If you are interested, please join our upcoming seminar, "Gojo Career Talk" where you can hear about the positions and what it is like working in Gojo!
Date: December 8, 2023 (Friday) Time: 19.00-20.00 JST Where: Gojo Office (limited slots) OR Online Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/gi6KUekA
Deadline for signing up is on December 6, 2023 (Wednesday). Even if you cannot join the event, you are welcome to apply to the positions above.
Gojo promotes diversity & inclusion. We welcome people with diverse backgrounds including gender, nationalities, sexual orientation and others. If you have inquiries, please contact our Recruiting team at careers@gojo.co
ちょうど僕も2007年にLiving in Peace(LIP)を創立し、2008年からは日本初のマイクロファイナンス投資ファンドをつくろうとしていた。メンバーの一人がNPOバンクの集会に参加して、そこで万暁さんに出会ったのが2008年9月、その後、本格的にマイクロファイナンス投資ファンドをつくろうとして、僕が万暁さんに初めて会ったのが2009年1月だった。場所は明治安田生命ビルに入っていたオメルベニー・アンド・マイヤーズの事務所。
万暁さんとの関わりはそこで終わりではなかった。それから長い間、彼は監事としてLiving in Peaceを支えてくれるようになる。万暁さんの関わりはいつも引き気味で、本当にリスクが高い案件においてはガンガンと前に出てて引かないというスタイルだった。
五常創業後の万暁さん
Living in Peaceの活動をきっかけに、2012年9月にサマーダボスに参加した僕は当時30歳だった。翌月31歳になる前に何をテーマにして起業をするかを確定させようとしていた僕は、民間セクターの世界銀行をつくることに決めた。そう、「プロジェクト五常」は2012年の9月に始まったのだった。11月には勤め先だったユニゾン・キャピタルに退職意向を伝え、働きながら起業準備をはじめる。
Our dear friend and Outside Director Mangyo Kinoshita passed away on July 9, 2023. Mangyo was an extraordinary lawyer, friend and human being. In this tribute, Taejun Shin reflects on Mangyo's life and his contributions to Gojo.
Mangyo before I knew him
Mangyo was born in 1976 in Komatsu City, his mother’s hometown, where she had moved to be closer to her family during childbirth. His birthday, October 2nd, shared with Mahatma Gandhi, is one day after mine. As a child, he lived in the west area of Tokyo.
His name, Mangyo, is unusual in Japan. It was chosen by his grandfather, father, and uncle, who preferred distinctive names. The ‘Man’ part was initially planned to be written with the character 萬, but due to registration restrictions, it became 万. In Japanese, 万 (man) means “ten thousand”, and the second character of his name, 暁 (gyo), means “daybreak” or “dawn”. Mangyo’s own interpretation of his name was that “the sun always goes on rising, over and over”.
Mangyo's name was indeed memorable, and he was very grateful for it, although he found it cumbersome to explain his name when ordering at places like Starbucks (where he went by Ken).
To his father, Mangyo owed his unique name and his interest in the legal profession. His father, who did not often discuss work-related matters with his son, first learnt of Mangyo’s connection with Gojo and me when I appeared one evening as a guest on a radio programme which he was listening to. Mangyo’s father sent a message to his son: “I was very impressed by this person.” Imagine his surprise to discover that his son was already a board member of Gojo. Looking back, I’m thankful to have appeared on that radio programme, even if only to have helped Mangyo rise just that little bit more in his father’s esteem.
After excelling through elementary and middle school, Mangyo dedicated his three years in Keio High School to American football. His enthusiasm for American football started in middle school, when he watched a late-night TV program showing an NFL game. He then focused on applying to high schools with good American football teams.
In high school, he aimed to consume 6000 kcal daily to gain weight for the sport, but only managed to reach 80kg at 185cm. Thus, upon advancing to Keio University, he quit American football and began pursuing law.
Though he didn't study much in high school (which led to his enrollment in Political Science instead of Law), he studied hard in university, eventually passing the bar exam while still in school—a rare achievement at the time.
After passing the bar exam, Mangyo took a gap year in the US, spending most of his time in New York, living with a local Japanese artist and as a lodger and cat sitter. He fondly remembers his time in New York City, and the struggle of working his way up from nothing. Later on, when he trained in the US as a lawyer, he returned to New York, working in an office building overlooking Times Square.
Upon returning to Japan, he began his judicial apprenticeship, where his exposure to social issues at a law firm involved in the Hansen's disease litigation made him ponder the importance of social engagement. He ended up at Paul Hastings, a firm known for its pro bono commitment.
The one who attracted him to pro bono work was attorney Tsuyoshi Dai, a pioneer among Japanese pro bono lawyers, who sadly passed away in September 2022. I remember well how shocked Mangyo was at his passing.
"Tsuyoshi was amazing until the end. Even a week before his passing, he called me concerned about someone else's well-being," Mangyo told me.
Mangyo and Living in Peace
When Mangyo transitioned from Paul Hastings to O'Melveny & Myers, he began interacting with members of Japan's NPO Bank. During this period, financial services were starting to gain attention in Japan as a means of solving social issues, following events like Grameen Bank's receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize. Mangyo was the one advising these NPO Bank members on how to overcome regulatory hurdles and conduct business.
I founded Living in Peace (LIP) in 2007, and from 2008 we began thinking of creating Japan's first microfinance investment fund. A member of our team attended a meeting of the NPO Bank and met Mangyo in September 2008. We formally decided to embark on the creation of the microfinance investment fund and met Mangyo in January 2009 at O'Melveny & Myers' office in Meiji Yasuda Life Building.
At our first meeting, Mangyo warned us that it would be really difficult to overcome the regulations to create a fund as a non-profit, and we might be better off not trying. However, we were serious and determined to make it happen. Music Securities, a crowdfunding platform for social good, decided to participate, and we started the project together. Not only did Mangyo personally assist us, but he also facilitated support for our case as a pro bono project at O'Melveny & Myers, involving a few attorneys.
At the time, and probably even now, LIP had a really diverse group of people, mostly young professionals with 2-5 years of experience, each with their own area of expertise. Looking back now, as an older man, it was quite a risky endeavour. Meetings were filled with drama; I even once almost tore up a contract in a fit of anger (which would have accomplished nothing), and we had long discussions from 20:00 to 23:00 every Saturday, followed by drinking until 5 in the morning. We were young and reckless.
In this group prone to incidents and accidents, Mangyo was our only voice of reason. There were various issues with the regulations on selling the fund. For example, although we as a non-profit could create a fund, we couldn't sell it. But if no one invested in the fund, we couldn't move the business forward. We tried to circumvent regulations and attract more investors, but Mangyo was the one who drew the line, telling us what was okay and what wasn't.
Having spent 9 years as an entrepreneur, I now realise how important it is to comply with financial industry regulations. If Mangyo hadn't been there, we might have messed up somewhere and the project could have been finished. In September 2009, the first fund was successfully launched. It was the first microfinance investment fund in Japan’s history. O'Melveny & Myers made a beautiful book containing all the contracts and documents from that time, which I regret losing due to my carelessness.
Our relationship with Mangyo didn't end there. For a long time afterward, he supported Living in Peace as a Board Member. His involvement was always at arm's length, but he would step up decisively in high-risk situations.
Mangyo after founding Gojo
In September 2012, thanks to the activities of Living in Peace, I participated in Summer Davos. I was 30 at the time and determined to decide on a startup idea before turning 31. In the end, I decided to create the private-sector World Bank. Yes, though many people don’t know it, Project Gojo started in September 2012. In November, I informed my employer, Unison Capital, of my intention to resign and began preparing for the startup while working.
One of the people I reached out to as a co-founder was Mangyo. I asked him to co-found the business with me in March 2013. He seemed surprised, as he hadn't expected me to make such a proposal. Even two months before his death, he was still asking me why I had invited him.
Around that time, Mangyo had a plan to start his own law firm, southgate (it’s not a typo. The firm name is written in a lower letter). He believed he couldn't continue the same business for 10 or 20 years like entrepreneurs, but he could always support people who had such a desire.
So, his refusal was natural. Considering the later success of southgate, I think it was the right decision. However, my relationship with Mangyo continued.
Like many other startups, the early days of Gojo were messy, but the most difficult part was when the first team disbanded. Although several people quickly pulled out, Mangyo was the one who said, "I still believe in you, Taejun. If you continue, this business will be fine." I can't express how much his words saved me at this time when I was losing confidence in myself.
After a few more adventures, I ended up founding the business with Tsuyoshi Nagashima and Sanjay Gandhi. Before Tsuyoshi joined, Mangyo supported the legal work needed for the company registration as a pro bono project at White & Case. Looking back now, I think it was amazing to receive pro bono support for a company that hadn't even been founded yet.
Photo taken in 2014: Form left, Tsuyoshi, Sanjay, Taejun, Renuka, Sovann, Praachi, Yoko, Mangyo, and Nagai sensei.
Legal affairs at the time of a company's establishment are extremely important. Any early missteps will come back to haunt you later. Without carefully designing the structure of the company at that time, we couldn't have established Gojo's highly unique capital policy, such as the Satyagraha Partnership.
One year after founding Gojo, in 2015, Mangyo established southgate. It's usually tough for a boutique law firm to earn revenue when it's just getting started, but southgate quickly gained clients and started turning a profit. I initially thought I would have to introduce clients to Mangyo, but any need for that disappeared in an instant.
The reason is clear. It wasn’t due to Mangyo's legal acumen (although of course, Mangyo was a top-notch lawyer in terms of technical skills). Mangyo himself often said, "There are plenty of lawyers who are more technically skilled than me." But he had charm, a vision, sincerity as a person, the ability to build a team, and the ability to empathise with people and connect with them.
Looking at Mangyo, I'm reminded of Marvin Bower, the businessperson I respect most and the de facto founder of McKinsey. McKinsey's consultants say, "Marvin was not an outstanding consultant." But no one could match him in terms of embodying and adhering to the company's values, and during Marvin's lifetime, McKinsey's people were always thinking, "What would Marvin say?" I guess this illustrates the difference between an outstanding professional and an outstanding leader.
When I first met Mangyo, he was still a lawyer focused on his own career, who was adept at defending his own reputation and staying out of trouble. I think his ability to be a powerful champion emerged after the establishment of southgate. Mangyo went from being a socially conscious, highly competent corporate lawyer to the founder of a professional firm. He became a lawyer who gave a sense of reassurance that he wouldn't run away but would fight to the end for his clients.
In the beginning, Gojo struggled with fundraising. At that time, there was virtually no recognition of microfinance as a business, and there was no momentum to invest in startups operating in developing countries, so no matter how many times we approached corporate investors, they wouldn't even entertain our idea. Sometimes, we couldn't even get appointments.
But we couldn't let the business stagnate. We needed funds to grow the business, so we decided to raise money bit by bit from individuals.
Mangyo helped us here too. One of the first people Mangyo introduced to us was Mr. F, a famous M&A financial advisor. At the prearranged lunch meeting, he started off by saying, "I decided to invest as soon as I heard about it from Mangyo, so tell me more."
Meetings with potential investors introduced by Mangyo were always like that. By the time they were talking to Mangyo, they had almost decided to invest, and meeting with us felt like a confirmatory process. Incidentally, since Gojo’s establishment, there has not been a single investor who was introduced by Mangyo and didn't end up investing. Anyone involved in finance, even slightly, will understand how extraordinary this is. Normally, such a thing is unthinkable.
I later asked Mangyo what kind of magic he was using. This is what he said he told the potential investors at the time.
"I think this team will definitely succeed in the long run. I've been observing Taejun for a long time, and he has never wavered and has always corrected his course even when he fails.
As this is a young team, I think there will be regular failures. Therefore, if the timing of the investment is bad, there is a possibility that the invested money will be lost. However, I think the likelihood of things improving over the long term is much higher.
But even if the money is lost, there is no doubt that it stood for the benefit of the world. I'm also going to invest, won't you?"
Mangyo referred to my resilience as the "Taejun = U.S. stock hypothesis." In other words, he was fully aware that I would periodically make mistakes but believed I would rise up again from there.
The people Mangyo introduced not only provided us with money but often ended up developing deeper relationships with us. The aforementioned Mr. F was no exception.
After we raised 1.2 billion yen from individuals in Series A funding, we were finally in a position to negotiate with corporate investors. By this point, three years had passed since our establishment. It was good to have raised 1.2 billion yen from individuals, but if we couldn't raise funds from corporate investors, our business wouldn't grow further. We were filled with a lingering fear.
The term sheet from the first venture capital firm we encountered was so bad it was disheartening. The next VC, who took us very seriously, offered a valuation in their term sheet that was about 30% lower than what we had received from individual investors. Moreover, many of the individual investors who invested in us at the time were able to take advantage of angel tax credits, with some getting a 40% refund on their investment.
"After taxes, for many individuals, this would be an up round, and if we can raise funds from corporates at this time, our business will start to improve, so isn’t it okay to accept this?" My colleague Natsuki and I were thinking. When we brought this to the board, Mangyo was adamantly against it. If this increase in capital was to be made, he said he would have no choice but to resign.
Indeed, Mangyo's approach to communication was gentle in interface but his style was rather hardline, even fundamentalist (I have heard this same view from Daichi Konuma of Crossfields, a non-profit where Mangyo served as a long-time board member). His assertion was simple, "Even if it's temporary, any fundraising that harms the interests of existing shareholders is unacceptable." This was his plain and indisputable logic.
Mangyo was the kind of person who could voice such an opinion despite understanding our struggles with fundraising. It was quite understandable given he had the mindset of an athlete who had put a great deal of effort into achieving results in his sport. He'd say something along the lines of, "Well, you folks are working hard, but it's not good enough at all." At first, Natsuki and I, who were also involved in sports, thought, "How can you say that?" But then we pulled ourselves together and continued our fundraising efforts.
After persevering in this way, we were able to raise funds without having to go through a down round when Dai-Ichi Life became our first corporate shareholder. Since then, "Avoid a down round at any cost" has become a critically important policy for us in fundraising, and we've managed to keep fundraising without facing a down round. I wonder what would have happened by now if it weren't for his stern words back then.
After the fundraising began to settle down, the next thing we did was to look for legal counsel. Until this point, Mangyo, who was an auditor, had secretly been reviewing our fundraising contracts for us.
Again, this is quite like Mangyo, who strongly believed that he should not ask his own law firm to handle the work as he was involved as a board member. Prioritizing such professional ethics over whether he would make money is characteristic of Mangyo. That's why I believe he was trusted.
And while searching for legal counsel, Mangyo set a very high bar. At that time, he was saying this:
"Honestly, the problem is that I can't find anyone in the market who I would like to rely on. There are many people who can do M&As in English, but almost all of them represent large corporations, and there are not many who understand M&A and can handle startup-related matters (even fewer if it is done in English). Also, hardly anyone understands the keywords that come up in our conversations, such as impact investment. Now that Gojo is seen as a relatively large startup, I don’t want to choose a lawyer who would support us just because we are growing. Also, the minimum standard required of Gojo's team members is high, and I don't want to compromise on the selection of external lawyers."
The only person Mangyo recommended saying, "It would be great if this person could do it," was Mr. H. He understood M&A, knew about startup businesses, was interested in social issues, and his English was excellent. Mangyo had been taking note of him for a while, thinking, "This is a prominent person."
I remember well the first time I met Mr. H, along with Mangyo, Tsuyoshi and Natsuki. It was in an office located in an apartment in Ebisu. During the meeting, Mr. H said, "If you work with me, I can help you emerge relatively unscathed from most incidents."
Hearing this, Mangyo reaffirmed his trust in Mr. H. That's because he was convinced that Mr. H met one of the most important conditions Mangyo had set for legal counsel: "Absolutely not running away even in the face of the worst hardship". We decided to work with Mr. H in about 2 hours that day. Since then, we have been really grateful for his support.
I think the members of Gojo at that time, including me, were a real mess. We were excessively abrasive, causing unnecessary friction with those around us. I think much of the reason we were able to manage the chaos of those early days was thanks to Mangyo, who was (again) our only voice of reason. Especially when I faced a difficult situation, I usually asked Mangyo to handle it. When our auditor faced a problem, the first person they would talk to was Mangyo, even though this is not meant to be the job of an outside director.
The members. In 2018. From left, Mangyo, Renuka, Tsuyoshi, Sanjay, Natsuki, Praachi and Taejun.
Among various stakeholder management challenges, the one where Mangyo really came to our aid was in the negotiations related to Tsuyoshi's departure. As the organization grew, it was time for our relationship with him to evolve as well. The tough part was that I liked Tsuyoshi and he was my friend.
I'm certain that if it had been just us in a 1-on-1, our final conversation wouldn't have gone well. It was ultimately settled smoothly because Mangyo, a practitioner whom we both respect, joined us in the discussion.
This is a bit of a digression, but Mangyo was actually a huge movie buff, to the point that he once considered becoming a movie director. His favorite films include The Blues Brothers, The Godfather, and The Shawshank Redemption. Among domestic films, he was fond of Koki Mitani's "The Gentle Twelve." In that film, he saw what he considered to be the essence of law. Namely, "when people earnestly debate, the conclusion usually settles in a reasonable place." Discussions in which he was involved would always arrive at such outcomes.
At the funeral wake for Mangyo, I unexpectedly ended up standing right next to Tsuyoshi. It was the first time I had seen him face-to-face since his resignation, four years ago. I thought to myself that this might also have been something Mangyo had planned.
Mangyo once shared that his most difficult decision was to propose to a colleague he had worked with for 17 years that they should embark on separate paths. The conversation went smoothly, and the two maintained a good relationship afterward. Although I had Mangyo to help me so much in difficult conversations, I feel sorry for Mangyo needed to handle this alone.
With Mr. Idei after a board meeting
From around the latter half of 2019, Gojo entered a new phase as an organisation. I think it’s fair that it began to be a more formal and professional organisation.
From around this time, Mangyo started to step back a bit. It seemed like he began to feel that we would be able to manage most things on our own. Nevertheless, in times of trouble, it was always Mangyo who stepped in. For instance, right after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we urgently needed to raise funds. Without fail, Mangyo was there to assist us during such times. And, as ever, anyone introduced by Mangyo invariably became a shareholder in Gojo.
As Gojo became relatively stable as an organization, southgate also seemed to have become established in its operations. At this juncture, Mangyo decided to step down from his role as the firm’s lead representative. It was another decision in keeping with Mangyo’s character, quite unlike in the typical firms where the boss lawyer tends to dominate. The goal Mangyo had in mind was to make the firm an organization that could operate without him.
Mangyo in His Final Days
After he stepped down as the lead representative of southgate, around the time his successors had started to get used to the job, Mangyo was diagnosed with cancer: pancreatic cancer— Stage 4.
It so happened that at the time of his diagnosis, there was an upcoming board meeting for Gojo, and he contacted us immediately after he left the hospital. As always, he spoke calmly. He plainly explained the average life expectancy at this point and the course of treatment to be undertaken. There was hardly any pessimism or agitation in his voice.
Instead he spoke of his gratitude for the time left to him, unlike his mentor Tsuyoshi Dai who had passed away so suddenly. There was none of the oft-mentioned five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance); he appeared to have accepted it right away. And with that acceptance of the situation, he was determined to do his best.
"Of course, it would have been nice to spend more time with my family, but everything comes to an end even if you want more. Rather, I believe it's important to appreciate what has been given, live each day, and candidly tell the people I value, 'I love you,'" he said.
Some colleagues were dismayed but I was relatively optimistic. Indeed, looking at the data, the prognosis for pancreatic cancer isn't good, but there are people who have survived, and I thought it wouldn’t be right to be downcast when Mangyo himself wasn't pessimistic. That was the kind of relationship Mangyo also wanted.
And initially, Mangyo continued his work as usual. In the early stages, the chemotherapy seemed to be going well, so my optimism grew.
However, after a while, even stronger chemotherapy resulted in no improvement. Mangyo also began to lose weight.
One day, I received a message from Mangyo in the same calm tone as always, "Actually, the situation is that I've now exhausted all measures." It was not until this point that I finally came to terms with his impending death.
In such situations, one begins to contemplate how to correspond. I hesitated to contact him, wanting him to cherish his time with his family, but on the other hand, I was caught in a dilemma, thinking that he would not appreciate such special treatment. As always, we continued with our usual work-related discussons.
At the last Remuneration and Talent Committee meeting that Mangyo attended (he was the chair), he strongly argued for my remuneration until the end. "It should be set higher," he would always say, which was at odds with my personal desire to set it at the median among Gojo members. This was the only thing I didn't heed from Mangyo.
When it came to money, Mangyo had a bit of a worldly side to him. He often enjoyed talking about making money, hobbies that cost money, and so on. However, there was never any unpleasantness in the way he spoke about these topics, which was one of the wonderful things about him. His mind was not trapped by money.
I remember our last Zoom meeting very vividly. It was a 1 on 1 meeting to discuss next steps after his potential stepping down as an Outside Director. For the first time, I saw Mangyo looking unwell and struggling. Yet, even then, once the meeting started, he was the epitome of calm. I marveled at his great spirit.
After stopping chemotherapy, Mangyo moved to palliative care in a hospice ward. Only 10 people were allowed in the ward, i.e., nine family members and his best friend, attorney Yasutoyo Jinnai. Mr. Jinnai was in charge of all the practical matters, such as settling Mangyo’s estate. We were also corresponding with Mr. Jinnai during Mangyo’s final days. The topic was investing further in Gojo despite his being on a deathbed.
From the day Mr. Jinnai found out that Mangyo had cancer until the day he passed away, he had been transcribing the Heart Sutra, one page a day. It showed how much he cared for Mangyo that a logical lawyer such as he resorted to prayer in this time of trouble. The Heart Sutra, which was placed in Mangyo's coffin at the funeral, had become a very thick stack of papers. The pain of fervently hoping for a friend's recovery, while at the same time, stoically preparing for his death, is unimaginable.
All the members of the Gojo sent letters to Mangyo in his palliative care ward, and Natsuki and I sent him a video. In response, Mangyo used some of his precious remaining time to send us a few thoughts. His former schoolmates seemed to have been continuously shooting videos to make Mangyo laugh. "It's weird to say 'do your best', so let's make him laugh," was their aim. The last video was reportedly one schoolmate’s impression of Mangyo.
He truly was blessed with friends. The messages we received from Mangyo were all about his gratitude for his good fortune in life, even up until the very end.
When asked what he was most proud of before his death, Mangyo answered, "my family and colleagues."
Towards his wife, he said, "There is not one thing I ever want her to do better. She's a strong person in tough situations, so she'll be fine even after I’m gone." He seemed delighted that after getting married and having children, he was able to see his sweetheart in a new role as a mother.
About his children, he said, "Their upbringing is for them to decide, so I hope each of them will grasp what they want to do and be surrounded by wonderful friends and colleagues. I hope they have no regrets in their life." Recently, one of his sons joined the American football club, and he looked forward to watching his practices.
While he did not yet consider his law firm large(though I think it's grown rapidly), he spoke of the joy he found in having colleagues who believed in his vision to create "a top-notch boutique firm specializing in cross-border transactions, staffed by Japanese and foreign attorneys."
He conveyed his love to those around him until the very end, and while in the hospice, he expressed his love for his family. He passed away on July 9, 2023. I received the news in the morning, dropped all my other work, and began writing an email to send to stakeholders.
His funeral was also remarkable. More than 1,000 people attended the wake and the funeral combined. Looking at the flowers placed there and the attendees shedding tears, it was clear how much Mangyo was loved by so many.
"The mark of the fully developed personality is to live each day as if it were your last, without hysteria, without apathy, without pretence," said Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher emperor of Rome.
The many words written in Aurelius's Meditations align perfectly with how Mangyo lived his life. I think it was an impressive way to live, right to the very end.
It is worth adding that Mangyo was not always the perfect human. When he was in elementary school, he was a bully, being a central figure in his class, and he still felt ashamed of that. In high school, during his American football days, he regretted giving up early in his final game. When the firm was first established, he regretted having snapped back at his friends who were attorneys at large firms, bragging about the greatness of such firms and belittling what small firms could do.
As mentioned earlier, he also had his worldly side. This applies to all great people, like Gandhi, Dr. King, and Nelson Mandela; almost no one is without fault. On the contrary, starting with Emperor Taizong and others, those who leave their names in history as great figures have committed some sort of sin somewhere (in Taizong's case, fratricide). I believe that what makes a great person great is not the absence of mistakes, but how they connect their errors to self-reform and self-discipline.
However, no matter how much I write about how wonderful his life was, and no matter how much I try to maintain my own peace of mind, the sadness wells up. It's too soon. I still want to shout out, "Why, why was he taken? This is ridiculous!"
After the passing of Idei-san, who was our first chairman, and then the passing of Mangyo, there is now no one left who knew Project Gojo from its inception in September 2012. This loneliness is indescribable.
Mangyo and Idei-san in Cambodia. They visited all of our countries of operation.
What will we do from now on?
He has physically departed from this world, and we are the ones left behind. I believe we need to glean something from this experience and press forward.
Thanks to my role as the funeral staff, I was able to spend some time conversing with Mangyo's mortal remains, and I came to realize there are three things we should focus on.
First, as the company, we must complete our mission of creating the genuine private sector World Bank, making financial inclusion available worldwide. In his last letter addressed to us, the members of Gojo, he stated, "My main concern is not how quickly we can achieve 100 million clients in 50 countries. It's how. We will get there anyway, and we will of course need to hurry up to achieve financial inclusion as much and as fast as possible to change the world to a better place. But this cannot mean we can compromise anything. We will continue to move forward with our uncompromising ethics and integrity in accordance with our mission and vision and our guiding principles.” We will carry his last remarks with us.
Second, I would like to dramatically increase the number of business people involved in public interest projects. If I hadn't started LIP and if Mangyo hadn't been engaged in pro bono work, we would never have met. It was Mangyo's fervent wish to establish pro bono work as a common practice in Japan. I want to make that wish come true.
Finally, on a personal level, I want to live life to the fullest as long as I’m alive. No matter how harsh life gets, no matter the failures, the pain, or even when I seem pathetic, I want to do my best as long as I’m breathing. Collapsing and giving up can wait for when I am dead.
Mangyo, I plan to stay on earth a little longer, continuing to work. Until the day we meet again, take care. Please look forward to great news about what we achieve by then. We will mourn your death only until today, and from tomorrow, we will celebrate life and move on while remembering you forever.
数社の起業を経験の後、マッキンゼー・アンド・カンパニーの日本およびドイツを拠点に主に海外企業の経営支援に従事。その後、オックスフォード大学に移籍し、経営学の優等修士号と博士号を取得。立命館大学経営学部を経て、2016年より現職。専門は、経営戦略、国際経営、および、制度と組織の関係。慶應義塾大学政策・メディア研究科委員、上場企業を含む複数のスタートアップの社外役員を兼務。著書に『STARTUP優れた経営者は何を考え、どう行動したか』、『経営戦略原論』、『領域を超える経営学』、分担著に『Japanese Management in Evolution』などがある。
Haruna Tanaka
Head of Corporate Planning & PMI
Haruna is a professional with expertise in strategy, business development and incubation. She is the Head of Corporate Planning and PMI of Gojo, working on strategy development, post merger integration, corporate governance, social performance management, impact measurement, stakeholder impact management and any other projects that are needed to further enhance Gojo’s work.
Prior to Gojo, she worked for Rakuten, a Japanese internet services company for 10 years. As a member of the CEO’s office, she worked on special projects and other items on the CEO’s agenda, including acquisition of overseas companies, enrollment of Englishnization at Rakuten, strategy development of Rakuten Mobile and more. Amongst other things, she also led Rakuten’s ebook business as business manager in Japan and Taiwan, Asian business development, and innovation activities, including internal and external accelerator programs. Before Rakuten, she was a strategy consultant at Booz and Company. She graduated from Tokyo University majoring in Economics. She has lived 3 years in UK and a year in US in her childhood and is fluent in Japanese and English.
Outside of work, Haruna is a partner and board member of Social Venture Partners Tokyo, an NPO supporting seed stage social entrepreneurs to succeed. She is also a mother of 2 children, and enjoys reading and playing the flute.
Sohil Shah
Principal/Head of VC
Sohil graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with a Masters in Finance and completed his under graduation in Electronics Engineering from the University of Mumbai. Before joining Gojo, Sohil was a part of the Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group where he led Intellecap Impact Investment Network, an early-stage angel network focused on making investments in social impact start-ups. In his five years with the group, he led around 35 investments in India and East Africa of which they exited from 6 companies and another 15 companies raised follow-on round of investment.
An Investment Banking professional with over six years of experience in India and US, Sohil previously worked as a Senior Analyst at Bank of America. He was part of the Global Investment Banking team, with a key focus on the healthcare sector, where he was a part of a few billion-dollar M&A transactions. Prior to that, he worked with the investment banking teams at Fortune Financial Services (India) Ltd and Crucible Capital Group in New York.
Apart from being an avid brewer, Sohil is an angel investor in his personal capacity as well. He lives in Pune with his family.
Gürol Michael Sari
Chief Operating Officer
Gürol Sari joined Gojo in June 2020 as our Chief Operating Officer, and oversees the strategic and operational development of our partner institutions. Gürol has extensive leadership experience in retail banking, SME finance, microfinance & financial digitalization, as well as experience in turnarounds of several institutions. He has worked in the banking sector for over 30 years in many countries, including Germany, Austria, Myanmar, Turkey, Albania, Russia, Australia, and Tanzania.
From the start of his career, his interest was drawn towards innovation and impact: Gürol created the first fully automated online credit solution in Germany, easyCredit, which is ranked No.1 today in Germany. Prior to joining Gojo, Gürol worked as Chief Operating Officer of Vision Fund Myanmar, where he developed and implemented a fully digitized microfinance system that provided over 300,000 clients in extreme poverty with access to credit, savings, and education. He currently advises several international banks on digitization and change processes.
Gürol has a creative spirit and is always active. He is passionate about architecture, gardening, handicraft (particularly remodeling houses), and loves to bike and to play tennis. He dreams of sailing with his wife once his two children are independent.
Takao Takahashi
Chief People & Inclusion Officer
At Gojo, Takao leads corporate planning and HR. Before joining Gojo, Takao was an Investment Officer at International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, based in both Washington DC and Jakarta. In his 7 years with IFC, he led investments in microfinance institutions, banks and fintech startups in emerging markets. Before IFC, Takao worked as the Bhutan Prime Minister’s Fellow, developing microfinance regulations and financial inclusion policy to contribute to Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (GNH). He also worked for 4 years as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company based in Frankfurt and Tokyo.
Takao graduated from Georgetown University, USA, with a Master of Science in Foreign Service and completed his Bachelor of Laws from Kyoto University, Japan.
Takao loves singing, both opera and karaoke. Tennis is his favorite sport. He has authored a book in Japanese, the English translation of the title being; ‘What is true happiness? Thoughts from Bhutan’
Kohei Katada
Managing Partner & CFO
Prior to joining Gojo, Kohei has served as Senior Vice President of Finance at SmartNews, Inc., a developer of a news discovery app. As its 7th employee and part of its management team, he led $80 million of equity financing and undertook a wide range of responsibilities including financial control, accounting, recruiting, people operations, legal, and investor relations.
As one of the founding members and as Chief Financial Officer at LIFENET INSURANCE COMPANY, a leading online life insurer in Japan, Kohei led it’s successful $100 million Initial Public Offering in 2012, and also setup a joint venture in Korea.
Kohei started his career at Morgan Stanley in its Investment Banking Division, where he was involved in multiple cross-border M&A transactions. In 2005, he moved to Hong Kong and joined Och-Ziff Capital Management, a global asset management company.
Kohei has a B.A. in Law from the University of Tokyo. While at school, he did an internship at a local NGO in Bangladesh where he was inspired by the power of microfinance that can unlock the potential of micro-entrepreneurs.
Kohei enjoys playing with his two boys over the weekends. He loves sports and has successfully finished the long-distance triathlon.
Arnaud Ventura
Managing Partner
Arnaud has founded and led two of the leading European financial inclusion groups active in Micro and SME finance, as well as digital finance.
Between 1998 and 2008, Arnaud cofounded and led PlaNet Finance with the support of Jacques Attali (Chairman) and Muhammed Yunus (Chairman Advisory Board). It was one of the most successful European financial inclusion groups, providing mainly advisory services in the sector. Between 2008 and 2019, Arnaud founded & led Baobab (formerly MicroCred), the leading Micro&SME digital bank in Africa & China. In 2019 alone, Baobab lent $1 billion to 1 million clients, generating around $200 million total revenues and more than $40 million pre-tax profit.
Arnaud is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. He also cofounded the French China Foundation, the leading network of Young Leaders between France and China, and Share Africa, a platform to promote Africa’s innovation and creativity. Arnaud graduated from EFREI, Paris, in Computer Science, and La Sorbonne in Philosophy. He speaks French, English and Spanish fluently and loves reading history & philosophy. He loves skiing and hiking in the mountains (particularly in the South of France), and has 2 young boys.
Akira Kawashiro
Outside Director
Akira Kawashiro is an attorney qualified to practice both Japanese law and Illinois law, currently serving as a Partner at Southgate, a law firm in Tokyo. His practice primarily focuses on domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A), venture capital investments, and securities regulations. He has also been seconded to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and has a deep knowledge of disclosure regulations.
Akira began his career in 2013 at Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, where he engaged in domestic and cross-border M&A and antitrust matters. At Gojo, Akira monitors management from an independent standpoint through board and committee meetings as an Outside Director.
Taejun Shin
Founder, Managing Partner & CEO
Taejun cofounded Gojo in 2014 and has led the company’s growth until today as the CEO. Before Gojo, Taejun worked as an investment professional at Morgan Stanley and Unison Capital. To deal with an enormous number of investment projects, Taejun studied programming and automated many financial models, some of which are used even today.
While working in the sector, Taejun founded Living in Peace, an NGO, in 2007 and created the first microfinance investment fund in Japan. Taejun has been involved in Japan’s child foster care for more than a decade and co-established Japan Office for Standards on Children Services in 2021 to conduct third-party inspections on the local authority children services in Japan.
Taejun is the Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and is the youngest founding board member of Endeavor Japan. He is an author of 10 books, a finisher of the 1648 km ultra-marathon, and a Karate black-belt holder (he just recently started Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and owns a blue belt as of 2022). Taejun is fluent in Japanese, Korean, and English. He plays drums and loves shooting street photos of the world.
Masahiro Kotosaka
Outside Director
Masahiro Kotosaka is Professor at Keio University, an Associate Fellow of Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and a non-executive director of Gojo & Company since March 2017. He is an expert in Internationalization strategy and early stage business development, and advisor/non-executive director of several start-up/multinational companies.
Before moving to Keio, he was an associate professor of multinational management at Ritsumeikan University, a teaching & research associate at the University of Oxford, and a consultant at McKinsey & Company based in Frankfurt and Tokyo. As a practitioner, he worked for strategy/marketing projects with sixteen client organizations across nine industries and nine countries and spent four years running three profitable IT/Retail businesses before joining McKinsey.
He graduated from the University of Oxford with D.Phil. (Ph.D) in Management Studies and MSc in Management Research with Distinction. His recent publication includes STARTUP (Co-authored, NewsPicks Publishing, 2020), The Element of Strategic Management (Toyo Keizai, 2018), and The Japanese Business in Evolution (Co-authored, Routledge, 2017).
Royanne Doi
Outside Director
Royanne Doi is the former Corporate Chief Ethics Officer of Prudential Financial Inc., and former Advisor for Global Legal, Ethics & Compliance to Yamaha Corporation.
Prior to Yamaha, Royanne held senior legal positions with major global financial institutions. At one point, she managed 200+ staff around the world, with business experience in North and South America, Asia, and Europe. During her tenure as a global ethics officer, Prudential Financial received Ethisphere’s designation as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for the first time in 2015, and multiple times thereafter. As a member of Gojo’s board, she will further accelerate the strengthening of internal audit and corporate governance to enable the sustainable growth of Gojo group.
Royanne has an undergraduate degree in Philosophy, from Washington University in St. Louis, graduating Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa. She earned her Juris Doctorate from UCLA School of Law. She is married to her law school sweetheart and has lived in Japan since 1994. She has three passions: economic empowerment for women, Asia with an emphasis on Japan, and the intersection between neuroscience and behavioral ethics.
投資銀行業務の専門家。以前はBank of Americaにシニアアナリストとして勤務していた。グローバル投資銀行チームに所属し、ヘルスケア分野に重点を置き、数十億ドル規模のM&A取引に関与。それ以前は、インドのFortune Financial Services LtdとNYのCrucible Capital Groupの投資銀行チームに所属していた。
キャリアをスタートさせた当初から、イノベーションとインパクトに関心があり、現在ドイツ1位にランクインする初の完全自動化オンラインクレジットソリューション、easyCreditを開発。五常入社以前は、Vision Fund MyanmarのCOOとして、完全デジタル化されたマイクロファイナンスシステムを開発・導入し、貧困顧客30万人以上にローン、預金、教育へのアクセスを提供。現在は、デジタル化と変革のプロセスについて、いくつかの銀行にアドバイスをしている。
Jacques Attaliとムハマド・ユヌスの支援を受け、プラネットファイナンスを共同設立し、世界中でアドバイザリーサービスを提供。またアフリカ9カ国と中国でBaobab(旧MicroCred)を設立・CEOとして主導。退職前の2019年にBaobabは100万人の顧客に10億ドルを貸し出し、約2億ドルの総収益と4000万ドル以上の経常利益を創出。
世界経済フォーラムのヤング・グローバル・リーダーであり、the French China FoundationとShare Africaの共同設立者でもある。パリのEFREIでコンピュータサイエンスを、La Sorbonneで哲学を学んだ。フランス語、英語、スペイン語を流暢に話し、歴史と哲学を愛する。スキーとハイキングが好きな二児の父。
堅田 航平
執行役CFO
大学在学中にバングラデシュのNGOにおけるリサーチ・インターンを通じて、マイクロファイナンスの可能性と課題を認識。大学卒業後、インドの英文校正スタートアップの立ち上げに関与したのち、モルガン・スタンレー証券 投資銀行本部においてM&Aアドバイザリー業務に従事。Och-Ziff Capital Management(Hong Kong)を経て、2008年にライフネット生命保険に入社し、経営管理、事業開発、組織開発、韓国におけるJV設立などを担当。IPO準備の責任者として同社を東証マザーズ上場に導き、執行役員CFOに就任。
ミレーナは、スタートアップ向けアドバイザーのTherion Advisersの共同創業者兼Managing Partner、気候変動の課題解決に取り組む革新的なソリューションに投資するグローバル・ベンチャーキャピタルであるAera VCのVenture Partner、ベンチャーキャピタルAntlerのVenture Partnerを務めています。以前はロンドンでUBSグループ投資銀行部門のExecutive Director、シンガポールのウェルスマネジメントのコンサルタントを歴任。慈善活動にも力を注いでおり、複数のNGOの創設者やパートナー。米国証券アナリスト。London School of EconomicsでInternational Accounting and Financeの修士号を取得。
金融機関で働くかたわら、2007年にLiving in Peaceを設立し(2017年に理事長退任)、日本初のマイクロファイナンス投資ファンドを企画した。過去15年以上にわたり社会的養育を受ける子どもの支援に携わっており、2021年に日本児童相談業務評価機関を共同設立した。
単著は10冊。日本縦断1648kmウルトラマラソン完走。空手黒帯、ブラジリアン柔術青帯(2022年時点)。世界経済フォーラムのYoung Global Leader 2018選出。朝鮮大学校法律学科、早稲田大学大学院ファイナンス研究科卒。趣味はストリート写真を撮ること。時々バンドでドラムを叩く。
Haruna’s Story
Why did you join Gojo? Since the beginning of my career I had wanted to spend my time on supporting people in developing countries. However, I ended up starting my career as a strategy consultant. After 3 years, I joined Rakuten, a Japan-based internet services company, where I worked mainly at the CEO office as an internal consultant. There were many interesting projects and I really enjoyed my time there, but I couldn’t give up on my original aspiration. After spending 10 years at Rakuten I decided to shift my career to pursue my personal mission. You can read more about my career here.
What does a day in your life look like? A typical day will be like this: 0700-0900 : Time with kids – breakfast, send them off to school, dish washing, laundry etc 0930-1200 : Start working at home. Morning is usually more quiet and I get time to do analysis, write / read reports etc. (if I’m lucky) 1200-1300 : Lunch 1300-1800 : Meetings with Gojo team members, group company counterparts, executive committees and board meetings 1800-2000 : Time with kids – dinner, bath, homework etc 2000-2200 : Not everyday but sometimes late night meetings, some additional work to be done
What do you find challenging and rewarding about your job? The best part is the people you work with. It is amazing to work with really talented people who share the same values and the goal to achieve a social mission. Everyone is very kind and empathetic, while being super professional. I also like the flat and open culture – you are encouraged to dissent without fear, almost all information is disclosed to everyone so transparency is quite high, very little hierachy. The challenges are workload management and distance with the clients. Being a startup there is always so much work that needs to be done, while as a working mother there is only limited time I can spend, so it sometimes becomes difficult. Being in Japan, it is sometimes difficult to provide effective support to clients in a timely manner. Having said that I feel that the challenges are possible to overcome with the great team members.
A word for prospective team members I think it was one of my best decisions I made in my life to come to Gojo. I am sure you will feel the same too.
Why did you join Gojo? Prior to joining Gojo, I worked with one of India’s largest impact investing groups covering many sectors like healthcare, financial services, agriculture, education etc. After 5 years, I felt the need to build deep expertise in a particular area so as to make a meaningful contribution. With financial inclusion as its core theme, Gojo not only gave me an opportunity to work directly on the field but also think about how I can make real impact.
What does a day in your life look like? Even after a few years at Gojo, my days are still intellectually stimulating! Typically I have a bunch of calls/meetings on various issues – building investment pipelines, negotiating new investments, managing group companies, etc. Initially it did look overwhelming, but I like the fact that it gives me an opportunity to cover multiple facets related to building a strong foundation for the group. There are also a lot of casual chats with colleagues between meetings which make for a fun day!
What do you find challenging and rewarding about your job? The only challenge I see at Gojo is our remote style of working. Throughout my career, I have worked with colleagues co-located in a physical office so this was definitely new to me. But the rewards outweigh the challenges and make it all worthwhile. The opportunity to understand the hardships of our clients, experience their lives, and constantly strive to make them better keeps me going. You feel that you’re making a dent in the universe, in your own small way, and that feeling has been very satisfying for me.
A word for prospective team members Despite the large scale, Gojo still operates like a start-up. If you want to make a difference to the society while working in a flat organization with a high level of ownership, then this is the place for you!
Why did you join Gojo? I’ve always been passionate about working at the intersection of social impact and business, so impact investing felt like a natural starting point for my career. What drew me specifically to Gojo was its hands-on involvement with its group companies. This allows Gojo to go beyond financial returns and actively extend its impact to reach more people, which really resonated with me.
What does a day in your life look like? Everyday is always different! I usually head to the Tokyo office in the morning to catch up on emails, Slack messages, and conduct analysis work. In the afternoon-evening, when colleagues in India, Europe, and our group companies start their workday, I shift to meetings. One of the perks of being in the office is the chance to have coffee breaks with the Tokyo team between tasks 🙂
What do you find challenging and rewarding about your job? The fast-paced environment is both the most challenging and most rewarding part of the job. Every day brings new developments across different teams and group companies. What truly makes it rewarding though, is hearing firsthand from clients about how Gojo’s services have made a difference in their lives.
A word for prospective team members If you are someone who wants to grow while contributing to something bigger than yourself, I am sure you will enjoy your time at Gojo as much as I do.
Milena has over 25 years of finance experience spanning across investment banking, wealth management, venture capital investing and startup advisory. She is a strong believer that directing capital for impact can be a powerful force for good without compromising financial returns.
Milena is Partner at Antares Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm taking a strategic approach to investing globally in breakthrough innovations that address sustainability challenges in Asia’s Growth Markets. She is co-chair of the Climate Solutions Committee at the Singapore Venture & Private Capital Association. She is also involved in several philanthropic initiatives and is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Clean Air Fund, a leading non-profit at the intersection of climate and health.
Prior to that she was Partner at Aera VC and focused on investing in transformative technologies to reverse climate change. In her earlier career as Executive Director at UBS Investment Bank in London, Milena advised leading financial institutions on mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs with over $10bn in deal value. In Singapore, she worked in UBS wealth management, advising ultra-high-net-worth individuals on asset allocation, wealth planning, and corporate structuring.
Milena holds a MSc Degree in International Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics.
Kshama Fernandes
Outside Director
Kshama has three decades of experience in Capital Markets, Risk Management and Structured Finance, with the last 15 years focussed on the financial inclusion space in India. Respected for her knowledge and commitment towards the cause of unleashing the power of finance for the greater good, Kshama has been a member of various High Powered Committees setup by the Government of India and has worked on consulting assignments for the World Bank, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, and NSEIT. Through her innovative and pioneering work, she has been instrumental in creating and developing the market for debt for the underbanked in India. Kshama is recognised as a leading figure in the Indian financial markets, and in the world of impact investing. She is also the Vice Chairperson of the Northern Arc Group, a leading finance company in India that invests and connects underbanked institutions and businesses to capital markets investors.
She has a bachelors in Mathematics, a Masters in Management and a Ph.D. in Finance. An adventure sports enthusiast, Kshama is a trained mountaineer, sailor, sky diver and an ardent biker.
Almira Zejnilagic
Outside Director
Almira has two decades of experience in risk and crisis strategy management, having worked as an advisor, board member and management, as well as having extensive Investment Committee experience. Most recently she was a senior executive in a global, fast-growing Web 3 financial services business and previously a Partner at FTI Consulting where she spent a decade and helped build and ran Global Risk and Investigation Practic in Europe, Central Asia and Africa.
During her formative years, as a Bosnian refugee, Almira experienced challenges relating to remittances and access to finance, which later shaped her keen interest in finacial inclusion and digital finance as well as broader issues of social justice.
Almira is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. She speaks English, Serbo-Croatian and Russian (as well as some basic Tajik). She enjoys reading and cooking with her family.
Ignacio Mas-Ribo
Outside Director
Ignacio is a non-executive director at Gojo & Company, Senior Fellow at the Fletcher School’s Council on Emerging Market Enterprises at Tufts University, and an independent consultant.
During 2015-2020, Ignacio was co-founder and executive director at the Digital Frontiers Institute, a not-for-profit that develops professional development training courses around digital money and payments. Previously, he was Deputy Director in the Financial Services for the Poor program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Senior Advisor at the Technology Program at CGAP. I have been Director of Global Business Strategy at Vodafone Group, Executive VP of Marketing and Account Management at DoCoMo interTouch, and Senior Manager responsible for telecoms investments in Europe for Intel Capital.
Ignacio has undergraduate degrees in maths and economics from MIT and a PhD in economics from Harvard University. He has been Adjunct Professor at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.
Sanjay Gandhi
Co-founder, Managing Partner & CIO
Sanjay co-founded Gojo in 2014 as Gojo’s Chief Investment Officer and has led the Investment Division since then. Apart from recommending the investments to be made by Gojo, he also represents Gojo on the Board and Committees of the partner entities and contributes actively towards strengthening the governance at the partner level.
Sanjay qualified as a Chartered Accountant (CPA) before graduating from Delhi University. After his first job as an Audit Manager in India in early 1990s, he led the Corporate Banking (North India) team for a Finance company.
Sanjay joined the microfinance industry in 2003 and has been part of it ever since: conducted about 125 MFI ratings & assessments in 29 countries; approved more than 400 MFI Rating reports. Some of the assignments were for the World Bank, ADB, UNDP, Cordaid and Mercy Corps. After his CEO assignment at a Cambodian MFI in 2013, Sanjay and Taejun got together to set up Gojo, where Sanjay’s extensive experience in the microfinance sector has been invaluable.
Sanjay operates from India, where he stays with his wife and two daughters. He speaks English, Hindi, and Punjabi. Loves reading; movies; and music. “The Beatles” is his all-time favourite music band.
Customers
Our key focus is our net positive impact on our clients through financial inclusion, something enshrined in our corporate mission. This continuous effort is reflected in our score in the “Customers” category, by far the highest in our assessment with 50.6 points overall, out of a maximum of 80. We are not satisfied yet: our work to further improve how we serve and support our clients is detailed in the impact reports we publish every year.
Kannan
Respondent Kannan, aged 30, married, a fisherman who lives with his family. He sends his children to private schools. He had lived on small-sized informal loans in 2022 during the economic crisis, when Sri Lanka experienced a significant currency depreciation and sharp price increases.
In early 2023, he repaired his fishing boat and purchased fishing nets through a local microfinance institution. He shares that the fishing nets need to be changed twice or thrice per year and the financial services help in his business continuity. He is also a participant of ROSCA (Rotating Savings and Credit Association) and his income has seen an increase since mid-2023. He faces financial setbacks when his boat engine fails and he depends on his relatives for immediate cash to meet the household needs in times of emergencies.
In the photo, Kannan stands beside his boat and fishing nets.
Jessy
Respondent Jessy, aged 37, is divorced and a mother of two children. She lives in her mother’s house and earns through tailoring where the sewing machine and other tailoring equipment were purchased through a local microfinance institution.
She manages her household needs through occasional alimony from her ex-husband, Samurdhi government benefits and support from close relatives. She keeps monthly shop credit for basic food and grocery expenses and repays the following month. She wants to earn more and focuses on her tailoring skills. Jessy desires to build her own house in the future.
In the photo, Jessy sits next to her newly purchased sewing machine.
We counted the monthly income for each household in the Cambodia Diaries and aggregated the frequencies based on magnitude. The leftmost bar represents the number of months with no recorded income. Levels ranging from less than USD 10 to around USD 70 were the most frequently observed income levels. We can also see that as income increases, its frequency decreases.
This graph shows how the diarists borrow from financial institutions like microfinance institutions and banks for larger loan sizes and in less frequency, and how they borrow from relatives and individual lenders for smaller sized loans.
This is the total number and cumulative amount of all transactions recorded in the Cambodia Diaries. All transactions have been categorised into four quadrants. You can see various sources of income and expenses, as well as the inflows and outflows from financial or asset transactions.
This graph represents the count of expenses for each household in the Cambodia Diaries for over a monthly period, aggregated by magnitude. There were no instances of zero expenses over a month. Levels ranging from less than USD 50 to around USD 90 were the most common expense levels. Compared to the income distribution, the distribution of expenses is more skewed. It suggests that expenses are necessary even when there is no income; in cases of substantial income, some of it is saved instead of spent.
Respondent Prema, aged 33, a housewife and a mother of 3 children, lives with her spouse. Her spouse is a driver and her 13-year-old helps record daily cash flow in the financial diary.
The household purchased a piece of land through a local institution and has done house repairs in phases by pawning gold goods. The loan repayments, utility bills, school and tuition fees are the recurring high expenditures in 2023. In January 2024, they invested in a small business towards fragrant agarwood plants. The household aims towards varied objectives balancing monthly income and expenditures.
In the photo, Prema stands on her purchased land with construction materials.
Chandri
Respondent Chandri, a housewife, aged 33, lives with her spouse, two children and parents. Her spouse is a carpenter and she participates in ‘Equipment Seettu’ where regular deposits are made to a shop and by the end of the stipulated period, she receives household goods. Seettu is a group saving method practiced among Sinhalese men and women, and it operates through friends and social circles in the community. In this case, it is probably in collaboration with the seller of these pots.
She has a children’s bank account where she tries to save, though not regularly. The household had utilized small-sized loans from welfare societies and local lenders for the consumption / purchase of household goods. Chandri shares that managing the medical expenses of the parents is hard to get by, yet the financial diary helps to cut unnecessary expenses and save for emergencies.
In the photo, Chandri carries her new cooking utensils (equipment seettu).