Star Contributor of the Month – Abhay Chawla

Abhay’s Impact:

Discovering Mifos:

I first came to know about Mifos in 2017 when my senior Dilpreet Singh got selected for Google Summer of Code. Mifos Initiative’s mission to provide a platform for every individual so that they can have access to financial services to create a better tomorrow for themselves, really motivated me to become a part of the organisation. While looking for projects to contribute, I found out about various AngularJS based projects, a framework that I was learning about at that time. Thus, I decided to begin contributing to open source by solving the issues in the community-app.

Contributions Made to Date: 

I started the work on revamping the community-app into the new web-app along with the integrated self service administrative portal based on Angular 6 and material design as part of my Google Summer of Code in 2018. Apart from that, I have contributed to solving various issues in the community-app and the web-self-service-app. As a mentor of Google Code-in, I created and reviewed various tasks related to coding, design and documentation of the web-app with Digital Impact Alliance under the guidance of Mifos.

Current Projects: 

Currently I have been continuing my work on the web-app, at the same time engaging new contributors to help complete this revamped version and integrate some new features including the self service administrative portal and app configuration so that it can be released to the community soon.

Impact on the Poor: 

I hope to keep contributing to the communities that strive to make the lives of the poor better by making technology more accessible and developing applications that are easy to use for all.

What’s Rewarding about Working on Mifos:

Getting to interact with the community members and the mentors has been the most rewarding experience for me. Throughout the GSoC period I got an opportunity to not only work on the new revamped version of the web-app improving my knowledge about material design and Angular but also be a part of the decision making process and learn from everyone. I am thankful to them for believing in me.

Top Piece of Advice for Others in the Mifos Community:

I’d advice other students/interns and members to always be active in the community and never hesitate to get help or clarifications from others when stuck. Make the best use of all the communication channels (mailing list/slack/gitter) and help each other as well, whenever possible. Make sure to write documentation/comments for the code you have contributed to in a project. It will not only be helpful for the newcomers but for you as well in the future.

Fun Facts about Abhay

Favorite Food: 

Chole Bhature, South Indian

Favorite Open Source Project: 

Mifos Web App

If Abhay Could Travel to One Place in the World: 

Paris, France

Connect with Abhay