'Grameen among largest banks in Bangladesh'

Grameen Bank has become one of largest banks in Bangladesh and it now lends out half a billion dollars a year in loans, without collateral, averaging under $200 to 4.5 million borrowers, and maintains 99 percent repayment record.
This was stated by Muhammad Younus, Founder and Managing Director of Grameen Bank of Bangladesh in a talk hosted by Oxford University Press (OUP) at a local hotel on Sunday.
IN HIS TALK TITLED 'SOCIAL BUSINESS ENTERPRISES: Businesses Created for Doing Good to People', Younus said: "Many problems in the world remain unresolved because we continue to interpret capitalism too narrowly and conceptualise one-dimensional human beings to play the role of entrepreneurs whose only objective is to maximise profit."
He said: "We must recognise the existence of the second type of people referred to as 'social business entrepreneurs' (SBEs), who are social objective-driven and are committed to making a difference to the world. The SBEs want to achieve their objectives through creating and supporting sustainable, even profitable, business enterprises."
He said that if SBEs exist in the real world, room should be made for them in a conceptual framework. "Once we recognise them, supportive institutions, policies, regulations, norms and rules will come into being to help them become mainstream."
Professor Younus quoted the example of Grameen Bank project as a social business enterprise, which started by lending small amounts of money to a few poor people, without any collateral. It later expanded to become an independent bank.
Younus was born in Chittagong, business centre of eastern Bangladesh. He was educated in Chittagong and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and received his Ph D in Economics from Vanderbilt University in 1970.
He started the Grameen Bank project in 1976, through which he implemented the simple but revolutionary tool of micro-credit to combat poverty in Bangladesh. In 1983, against the advice of banking and government officials, he converted Grameen Bank into a formal bank, which currently operates 1,277 branches, providing credit to poor people residing in 46,620 villages in Bangladesh.
In 1997, Younus organised the world's first 'Micro-Credit Summit' in Washington.
Dr Shamshad Akhtar, Governor, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), appreciated the efforts of Muhammad Younus and said that it was really a tremendous achievement made by the Grameen Bank.
Earlier, Ameena Saiyid, Managing Director, Oxford University Press, introduced Younus and said that it was amazing that an economics professor, in a little known city called Chittagong in Bangladesh, defied the time-honoured banking myths and the pronouncements of the World Bank, and prodded by compassion and, relying on common sense and empathy, produced a new system of alleviating poverty in the world.