About Christopher Evans (founder)

Hi. Welcome to Blighty bank.
I am Chris Evans - aged 25, from the UK and founder of the Blighty Banking project. I hope you can find all the information you need within this website. If you are thinking of creating your own bank please read the content in these pages and you will have ample information to get started. Obviously it takes some courage to get out there and create a new bank in a place that maybe far away from home. But it can be done and you will be surprised at how it works as a system of helping others. Traditionally 'lending' money has been frowned upon with 'money shark' type negative connotations. However lending money can do an enormous amount of good and that is what real banking is all about.

How was Blighty Bank formed?

I first visited India in 2008 to help out at an orphanage in Guntur district, Andrah Pradesh. Prior to leaving for India I spent alot of time trying to recruit people to come with me (the more the merrier!). I also spent a lot of time raising money. Eventually, after a lot of hard work, I found 14 intrepid volunteers to join me. We all gave our money and time generously. The trip was a success. However, whilst it was a success, it also left me depressed. I remember thinking 'bloody hell - raising money is tough'. It took us ages to raise 3000/4000 GBP and within a few weeks we had spent all that money. We had made a diference but it was a tiny tiny tiny little diference in the grand scheme of things. Depressingly my gut feeling told me that the results did not reflect the effort I/we had put in. It was a sobering thought. I wondered if there was a better way.

One day I was expressing this frustration when a fellow traveller recommended the book 'Banker to the Poor' by Dr Mohammed Yunus. As soon as I returned home I read that book. After the first few words I knew I had found what I was searching for ie a way to help where the results matched the efforts I would put in. A self funding financial instrument that helped those that needed it most. From the minute I picked up his book I knew I had to give it a try. And with my new found friends in Guntur (Suneetha and Ratnam) I was able to give it a go. My every day work also took me to Hyderabad,India regularly and so I could give it a try in my own time and with my own spare cash.

Now, more than one year since we started, things are going well. We have 45 loaness and are on the way to our goal of creating 100 new businesses. Now my goal has changed a little because I realise with a little help (from you?) - it is posisble to create 250 000 new female enterpreneurs in the developing world.

So what do you say? F

Over the next year we will grow Blighty banking Project to become a business with over 100 loanees. Blighty Group (www.blightygroup.com) will donate a percentage of profits direct to the Blighty bank. I am also hoping others may create a similar programme and together we can make a bigger difference. Thanks for reading.