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Sixteen Years that Changed the World of Banking

by S. Bari
Grameen Bank has Just opened its thousandth branch. Over 1.4 million people borrow from what is effectively the country’s largest financial organization. A workforce of 12,000 employees reaches 30,000 villages, and carries 60 crore taka to and from the doorsteps for members each month. And as far away as Kenya and the USA, the poor are benefitting from a revolution in banking that began in Chittagong in 1976.
In response to the seemingly endless cycle of poverty he saw around him, a 36-ycar old university professor hit on the simple idea of of lending money to those who had nothing - including collateral. The rest is history. Sixteen years and several international awards later, Dr. Muhammad Yunus has proved his point: you can bank on the poor.
The Grameen principle equlres prospective clients to find four other people who would like to borrow. The group of five serves as collective conscience: each is the others' alternative to collateral. A number of such groups compose a centre, which holds regular meetings. Over 92 percent of the members are women. Monw is used, among ojfier. small ventures, to buy milch cows, poultry, rice milling equipment, or to lease land.
While the newspapers In the country are running out of space to print the list* of wealthy defaulters on commercial bank loans, the rate of repayment at Grameen Bank is nearly 99 percent
Outsider* have been quick to notice the success of the system. Countrie* that have implemented the Grameen model or have established experimental model* Include »uch economically disparate place* a* Vietnam and Chile. Burkina Faso and India, Malaysia ad the
USA.
Says David Gibbon*, head of the Malaysian project, which is the first and largest of the international models. This is a universal idea, feasible wherever there Is poverty. At the same time, it is an uderlying idea that can easily be adapted to different social and cultural settings."
In our country. Grameen has not merely provided credit; It has enhanced the quality of life of Its members. Women who drew their veils and starved In silence now stand up at centre meeting* and display a confidence bom of financial *elf-esteem. So far. 14,000 dowry-frec marriages have been arranged by Grameen members. Over 200,000 packet* of iodised *alt have been distributed through the Grameen network. Nearly 17,000 centre school* are in operation.
Grameen Bank's latest award is the King Baudouln Inernatlonal Development Prize, to the tune of 4 million Belgian francs. Some of this will go towards funding Grameen» expanding new project*: housing loan* and fisheries. The former, which has won the Aga Khan Award for Architectural Excellence, has disbursed over 3 million taka in housing loan* The bank I* also looking into the possibilities of teaming up the dying handloom Industry with the booming garment* trade.
To take care of international model* and development research. the bank turn* the Grameen Trust. Thi* body will over*ee the future Implementation of the Grameen model In the urban setting a* well. As the dynamic staff al Grameen Bank are fond of pointing out. Dr. Yunus never rests " The feisty Managing Director answers this charge with a smile and an evangelical gleam In hl* eye*.