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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
February 2, 2008
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| January 7, 2008 |
Socially Conscious Banking: An Interview with Community Bank momo Founder Kimura Masaki |
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Kimura Masaki (center) held a series of workshops to help people better understand NPOs (non-profit organizations), especially related to community banking. |
Kimura Masaki is part of a growing trend of bankers with a social conscience who are using their background in commercial banking to make a positive difference in the world. He directs a community bank called momo in Japan which gives low-interest loans to people wanting to start socially responsible and eco-friendly projects. We spoke with him about this novel project and how we can be more responsible when it comes to banking so that our money can make a positive difference.
Can you give a brief description of what you do?
I established a community bank called momo. I’m the director of that bank, which is a non-profit organization (NPO), and what we do is we loan money to people in the community and help organizations to contribute to that community, in terms of welfare and the environment. |
site design imagesparkle.com |
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| Mr Kimura held a lecture along with Peace Boat staff to discuss their experience of working for NPO/NGO organizations |
Before starting this, you used to work for a commercial bank. What inspired you to change to the non-profit sector?
I worked for a regional bank, and the purpose of the bank was to contribute to that area, but belonging to that organization, I couldn’t do much as an individual. I found out about community banks and because I knew how to deal with money, I knew I could contribute more. When I was working for a commercial bank, I didn’t have much awareness that I was holding and depositing money from people. We think of it more as a system without a face. However, now at the community bank, I feel more responsible because the investor has very strong feelings about how the money will be invested and used to contribute to the community. It’s a big task but I feel more involved and have more of a sense of satisfaction. Because it’s such a small scale, I can have a real connection with the client.
Onboard, we learnt that large commercial banks invest our money in things we might not agree with, such as manufacturing weapons. How can we find out about what our banks are doing with our money?
The commercial banks publish a disclosure – an annual report, and you can see what percentage they invested in the community. However, it doesn’t say the name of the client and you can’t really know where it is going to be invested. At a community bank, however, there are no dividends but it’s much more transparent in terms of what the project money will be used for. That’s the big difference. |
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Newly weds Kimura Masaki and Kimura Mai had a second, informal wedding on Peace Boat. Because they were recently married, Mr Kimura joked that their time on Peace Boat was their honeymoon |
What kind of projects is the momo bank supporting?
There are some worthy organizations that for whatever reason can’t borrow money from the bank, so we’ll help them, or any organization that contributes to building a sustainable community. We support things related to organic food production or alternative energy sources. If it has a positive impact on the community, then we’ll raise the capital for them to start the business.
The things you’ve talked about in your lectures and workshops have been very Japan specific – how can we apply this knowledge to other countries?
There’s the Grameen Bank started by Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh which won a Nobel Prize in 2006 – that’s an example of a community bank that does micro-finance. They give loans to poor people in rural communities to try to alleviate poverty. Community banks are also more developed overseas. Because they have such a low interest rate, in order for them to get more money, they either have to raise the interest rate or expand the business. However, if this happens, then the connection with the client is lost. So, we need support from the government. This can be done through a kind of mediator that works between the government and big enterprises that donate money to community banks. The government rewards them for it. In Europe, they have ethical banks which have certain requirements for the clients. This money can only be lent to people who are doing specific projects. They do negative screening, which means that the money cannot be used for anything deemed negative, such as making weapons or chemicals that will pollute the environment. |
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Do you have any advice for anybody who wants to start their own NPO?
I never thought about quitting commercial banking to start an NPO when I first started. Nobody knows the future, but if you know what you want to do and follow your heart, then the results with follow. The participants on this voyage have been around the world for three months, and have had many new experiences. After this voyage, it’s a chance to start something new, something you really want to do. There are a lot of choices in life – and some people think that by choosing one thing to focus on they are limiting possibilities, but by choosing something, you are actually expanding possibilities. In terms of NPOs, if you know what kind you want to start, you have to go to one that’s established, do a lot of research about it and just start something from there.
For more information, visit – www.momobank.net (Japanese only)
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