Who we are

Our Grameen Heritage

Grameen Bank

Grameen Bank is a specialist bank based in Bangladesh that lends tiny working capital loans ("micro credit") to the self-employed poor. In defiance of local custom and a culture that excludes women from participating in economic activity (except begging), the Bank has managed to extend 94% of its loans to women.

In return, the poor women have not failed the Bank. They borrow tiny sums to capitalise their survival skill, create a myriad of self-employment pursuits, repay every cent of the principal and interest, and experience a spectacular rise out of poverty.

Through 8 million such borrowers in 70,000 villages, each year Grameen Bank contributes between 1.1 and 1.5% to the national GDP of Bangladesh.

This demonstration effect of Grameen has resulted in the replication of the Grameen idea in 90 countries so far, including a handful of industrialised/developed countries such as the USA and Norway.

Grameen Trust

The Trust was set up by the Grameen Bank to provide wholesale finance and technical assistance to micro-credit lenders in Bangladesh and other countries and help them emulate and adapt the Grameen model.

Who we are

Grameen Foundation Australia (formerly 'Grameen Bank Support Group') is an Australian initiative to support the poverty alleviation work and mission of the Grameen Bank, Grameen Trust and their affiliate organisations. The Foundation is a charitable (not-for-profit) foundation registered with the Australian Security and Investment Commission. A similar foundation is set up in the USA (www.grameenfoundation.org).

What is "Microcredit"

"Microcredit" means tiny loans without any collateral to the poorest of the poor for the purpose of self-employment.

In poor developing countries wage employment opportunities are limited; a large proportion of the workers earn their living through self-employment. They need working capital. Conventional banks are not set up to lending such tiny loans to people who have no credit history and do not understand bank’s procedures, and often cannot read or write. In desperation such self-employed poor borrow from money-lenders and often end up in debt trap.

The notion of Microcredit is appreciated so much that the UN General Assembly designated 2005 as the International Year of Microcredit, and in 2006, both the Grameen Bank and its founder Professor Muhammad Yunus were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for pioneering microcredit, for the scale of their outreach and for their impact on poverty alleviation. See the Nobel Prize web site for further information.

For further information on microcredit, click here to review an excerpt from David Bornstein's 'The Price of a Dream: The Story of the Grameen Bank'. The book is available from amazon.com.

Grameen Story Video