Muhammad Yunus founded the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh in 1983 to provide microloans to the poor, especially women. He began giving small, uncollateralized loans from his own pocket in 1974 and found that it allowed people to generate income and lift themselves out of poverty. The Grameen Bank grew significantly and by today has over 8 million borrowers, with a 97% repayment rate. It has inspired similar microlending programs in 58 other countries. The bank established training programs to teach others about their model of providing financial services to the poor and has trained people from around the world.

1. Muhammad Yunus Grameen Bank

2. Muhammad Yunus was born in 28th June, 1940 in the village of Bathua, in Hathazari, Chittagong, the business centre of what was then Eastern Bengal. In 1974, Professor Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi economist from Chittagong University, led his students on a field trip to a poor village. They interviewed a woman who made bamboo stools, and learnt that she had to borrow the equivalent of 15p to buy raw bamboo for each stool made. After repaying the middleman, sometimes at rates as high as 10% a week, she was left with a penny profit margin. Had she been able to borrow at more advantageous rates, she would have been able to amass an economic cushion and raise herself above subsistence level. Realizing that there must be something terribly wrong with the economics he was teaching, Yunus took matters into his own hands, and from his own pocket lent the equivalent of ? 17 to 42 basket-weavers. He found that it was possible with this tiny amount not only to help them survive, but also to create the spark of personal initiative and enterprise necessary to pull themselves out of poverty.

3. Against the advice of banks and government, Yunus carried on giving out 'micro-loans', and in 1983 formed the Grameen Bank, meaning 'village bank' founded on principles of trust and solidarity. In Bangladesh today, Grameen has 2,564 branches, with 19,800 staff serving 8.29 million borrowers in 81,367 villages. On any working day Grameen collects an average of $1.5 million in weekly installments. Of the borrowers, 97% are women and over 97% of the loans are paid back, a recovery rate higher than any other banking system. Grameen methods are applied in projects in 58 countries, including the US, Canada, France, The Netherlands and Norway.

4. HISTORY By a Bangladeshi government ordinance on October 2, 1983, the project was transformed into an independent bank. After this establishment, the bank started experiencing tremendous demand from foreigners around the world, who wanted to learn further about the operations of Grameen Bank, as well as meet with its staff and clientele. Due to overwhelming requests from abroad, Grameen Bank’s Head Office created the “training program” for internationals. Initially, this training program was designed for foreigners interested in conducting research about the operations of the bank and the impact of microlending on the poor, as well for policy makers from around the world. In 1987, the Managing Director officially inaugurated the establishment of the Grameen Bank Training Program. As the success of Grameen’s Micro-credit model increased on the global platform, curiosity and demand for this new approach extended beyond the research and policy frameworks. To meet the growing learning needs of the global community, Grameen Bank established the International Program Department. Since its inception, the International Program Department has carefully designed a diverse range of training programs available to all individuals who are interested in not only furthering their knowledge about how Grameen Bank works, but also to disseminate their newfound insights, ideas, and innovations to the international community. Currently, the International Program Department offers training programs in the forms of Grameen Basics Course, Exposure Program, International Dialogue Program, Research, Internship, Workshops and Media (preparing documentaries for press, television, etc.)

5. Objective The Grameen Bank believes that the best way for participants to learn about how the bank works, is through first hand exposure and observations at the field level. Through these experiences, participants are encouraged to draw their own conclusions about the effectiveness of Grameen Bank’s work and the impact it has on the poorest of the poor. The objectives of GB’s training programs are to: Arouse curiosity Stimulate interest on the subject of Microfinancing Encourage responsibility of self-motivated learning Learn and share with others Discover individual role in the organization and the global community

6. Credits : Google.com :http://www.grameen-info.org Team : Favian Chua, Duncan Pang, Darren Tan, Ong Rui Peng