VSSU was founded on a straightforward idea: that it is possible to achieve community development using only community resources. This vision believes in the possibility of using financial services to mobilize community resources and to channel them into community development without any external funding.

This nation challenges the claim that rural poor do not have access to the resources necessary to further their own economic and social development, or that low-income individuals are inconsistent savers and unviable borrowers. What VSSU's experience demonstrates is that it is indeed possible to market micro financial products and services to rural poor, through they are often considered 'unbankable', and that these activities can be performed efficiently enough to generate revenues capable of funding a variety of programs that meet the socioeconomic needs of the local community.

These dual objectives-providing micro-finance services and funding community services-from the basis of VSSU's identity as a 'An Organization for Community Development'. Ours is a sustainable and practical model for development that is not reliant upon external donor funds.

For our successes, VSSU has been recognized by outside micro-finance practioners, international organizations and local NGOs. CEO Kapil Mandal was elected as an Ashoka Fellow, a distinction given to 'social entrepreneurs' who apply innovative and replicable solutions to social problems. VSSU also received, at the beginning of 2005,the 'Micro-finance Process Excellence Award' by Planet finance. But perhaps the best testament to VSSU's work is the fact that our model has been replicated over 200 times, across India and as far away as South Africa and Kenya.