From Bangladesh: The extraordinary experience of Muhammad Yunus and his
Grameen Bank «We only lend money to the poorest of the poor»

Peace Times 14

by Roberta Passerini

Micro-credit gives a chance to the poor to have access to the kind of opportunities which are usually exclusively reserved to the rich. Those people without financial means and social standing were branded by a whole set of injunctions and rules. And so it goes that those aspects of society which seemed rigid and unmovable, have gradually become more fluid and, owing to developments and new initiatives such as that bravelylaunched by the poor mans banker, Professor Muhammad Yunus.

Born and raised in Bangladesh, he went on to complete his studies in the United States of America, before returning to the homeland  in Bangladesh, to lecture in economy at the University if Chittagong.

In 1977, he founded the Grameen Bank, an independent credit institute based upon a system of micro-credit. Professor Muhammad Yunus’s bank only lends money to the poorest of the poor, to those who have no guarantees or references to offer and who are therefore invariably turned down by «normal bankers».

Owing to his pioneering policy, hundreds of thousands of people (that is well in excess of ten percent of the entire population in Bangladesh), mainly women, have been given a chance to gradually improve the basis of their financial status, and thus climbing the scale of human dignity. On average, some ninety percent of loans are punctually paid back, between six months and one year.

Interest rates, although obviously much lower than those offered by commercial banks, vary according to the requirements of the different branches of the Grameen Bank, in order for each to become self-sufficient in their respective countries, within four years of opening. Self-sufficiency is what the Professor staunchly believes in: «I believe that poverty can only really be eradicated if and when people develop the ability to take responsibility for their own destiny. Charity, says Yunus serves no purpose. In fact, it is quite the opposite: «By mortifying the spirit of initiative, one merely perpetuates poverty».

The Grameen Bank encourages all its clients to save, even if a minimal amount of money, on all future gains: with a sum equal to a mere three dollars, they are able to buy a share in the bank with the possibility of increasing their initial capital.

Professor Muhammad Yunus recalls: «During the seventies, I ran the Department of Economical Studies at the University of Chittagong, and I was confronted daily with the misery in the area. I began to doubt the refined theories I taught to my university students. I realised that the basic reason for misery was the lack of even the indispensable amount of money to start a job». He continues: «Thus at one point, I found myself writing down a list of forty-two people who, in order to begin living in a decent way would altogether have needed an amount of money equal to a mere twenty-seven dollars».

The rest is already economical and social history. The experience of the Grameen Bank has been an example for the whole world: aside from its presence in thirty-six thousand villages in Bangladesh, it has opened its doors in some fifty-seven countries in every part of the world.

Now the bank is also on internet: www.grameen-info.org