Sarat Chandra Das

Das is a graduate of Assam Agricultural University and holds a postgraduate diploma in rural development. He is a certified expert in microfinance, attended the middle management programme at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, and took a specialised programme at Wageningen University on organised farmers in agribusiness.

Before founding Grameen Sahara, Das worked with RGVN, with Sa-Dhan in New Delhi, and in HDFC Bank's agriculture and microfinance operations within its corporate banking group.

Grameen Sahara was registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act of 1860 in 2002 and works on sustainable livelihood models for marginalised communities in north-east India, with its main focus in Assam. Its work covers institution building among women's groups and farmer collectives, natural resource management and climate-resilient agriculture, water, sanitation and health, and education through the Grameen Jyoti Academy. The organisation reports having reached more than 200,000 households and to be working with around 60,500 disadvantaged families across districts in Assam and Meghalaya.

Das's stated professional interests include community development, microfinance, natural resource management, social entrepreneurship and institution building. He also sits on the boards of the CML Society, CoE, NEMFA and the Diya Foundation.[2][3][4]