K Paul Thomas

Founder, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Evangelical Social Action Forum (ESAF), Small Finance Bank
India

Kadambelil Paul Thomas, Founder of ESAF Group of Social Enterprises including the ESAF Small Finance Bank is an Indian social entrepreneur acknowledged for his unique approach to addressing the socio-economic problem through financial inclusion based on cooperative principles. Backed by nearly two decades of experience in the cooperative sector with world’s largest Fertilizer Cooperative (IFFCO – Indian Farmers Fertilizers Cooperative Ltd) and driven by the purpose of creating the social impact that aims to address the partiality in prosperity, Paul founded several Group of Social Enterprises.

Paul holds positions as MFIN (Microfinance Institutions Network), CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) and also, a speaker in various national and international forums such as Harvard Business School, The European Microfinance Platform, Global Microcredit Summit at Spain, International Labour Organization (ILO). Paul has received several national and international honors, recent of this being: “Entrepreneur of the Year Award” by TieCon.

The contributions the ESAF Group of Social Enterprises continue to be recognized in projects with the World Bank, FMO, Water.Org, and Government of India initiatives in various community development projects.