Over the last four decades Mr. K. V. Shamsudeen, the Director of Barjeel Geojit Securities, UAE and the Chairman of Pravasi Bandhu Welfare Trust, has been working tirelessly for the welfare of economically backward Non-Resident Keralites (NRKs). He inspires not only low and middle class NRKs in GCC countries but also their dependents to save and inculcate an ‘investment’ habit. Pravasi Bandhu Welfare Trust, a welfare organization for NRKs, floated by eminent financial analyst Mr. Shamsudeen has played a crucial role in NRKs’ welfare. He has conducted more than 270 financial awareness programs all over GCC and in India, 500 interactive radio programs and 100 TV programs. He was the Vice-Chairman of the Indian Business and Professional Council for five years.
As an honour to his selfless service, recently, Georgetown University and Michigan University published a research report about the impact of former’s financial awareness programs.
Arabian Business, one of the leading business magazines in GCC, awarded Shamsudeen 52nd position in 100 most powerful Indians in UAE.
In an exclusive interview for Brand Kerala, Shamsudeen talks about his various initiatives to support NRKs.
At a time when NRKs are thinking about how to double their investment and savings, here, a person devotes his entire life to the welfare and upliftment of Indian ex-pats in foreign countries. He has been doing this selfless service for the last forty years. Yes, it is Mr. K. V. Shamsudeen, one of the leading financial analysts in the UAE. By conducting numerous financial awareness campaigns, Shamsudeen is playing a significant role in building life better for NRKs thereby enhancing the economy of the state.
The beginning
While explaining about the inception of Pravasi Bandhu Welfare Trust, Shamsudeen explained: “I realized the pathetic situation of people who returned back to India after decades of hard work in Gulf, without proper financial resources to look after the family. In the nineties, the conditions of Indian expatriates became worse, as a solution, I started Pravasi Bandhu Welfare Trust with an objective – Welfare of NRIs and educate them about the significance of savings”.
Among the NRIs, 65% are from low and middle-income segments and more than 60% are from Kerala. In 2001, the Trust with the support of connoisseurs conducted a survey to understand the financial position of low and middle-income NRIs. The survey revealed that the NRIs lack a saving culture. The survey revealed that only 2% of the families of Indian expatriates managed savings from the remittance they are receiving from Gulf. Only 5% of expatriate Indians have enough financial resources to continue the present lifestyle of their family when they return home permanently.
Fight to live
Gulf returnees are hard to put to get medical treatment, marry their daughters, repay the loans they may have taken to build a house or for other emergencies. Surprisingly, many of the Gulf returnees do not get love and affection from their family members though they have lived alone and sacrificed all comforts in the Gulf for many years to look after their families. Many Gulf returnees try to go back to the Gulf, irrespective of their old age and poor health, as they are not able to make both ends meet in India.
Spend wisely
If the NRKs had regularly saved from their earnings systematically and invested wisely, they could have lived comfortably on their return. For that, they needed financial awareness and financial discipline to understand the need for saving and to control expenditure. They also needed to maintain a tight family budget and have knowledge of various investment avenues available in India.
Awareness campaigns
Shamsudeen underlined: “we realized that the creation of financial awareness will change the situation and improve their living conditions. I have been conducting a financial awareness program titled ‘For a better tomorrow (Oru Nalla Nalekku Vendi)’ since 2001. I have conducted 278 financial awareness programs hitherto and out of that 50 were in Kerala for the family members of NRKs.” In addition to this, he has been conducting a weekly program on Asianet Radio from Dubai and a weekly program on NTV.
The Trust has also initiated scholarships and monthly pensions to needy NRIs and their families.
