Banker to the Poor
Grameen Bank was founded in 1983 by Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi economics professor who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for revolutionizing the microcredit concept. Yunus launched Grameen to create employment opportunities for the vast multitude of unemployed people in rural Bangladesh and counter the exploitation of the poor by money lenders.
Since 1983, Grameen Bank has operated as a for-profit, member-owned bank. From the beginning, Yunus sought to show that the business of lending to the poor could be sustainable and even profitable. Most of the Grameen Bank's branches do produce small profits, which are reinvested into the operation. Today, it is one of the biggest microcredit banks in the world. 97 per cent of its 7 million borrowers are women. According to Yunus, 58 percent of borrowers have already advanced across the poverty line.
Grameen Bank continues to play a role as an innovator in the world of microcredit and social enterprise. To target the neediest Bangladeshis, Grameen Bank started an interest-free service for beggars called the "Struggling Members Programme," which is producing positive results. The Bank has also partnered with a telecommunications company to make cell phones more affordable for rural Bangladeshis while offering microenterprise opportunities.
