Grameen
Bank—Bangladesh
®Owned entirely by the poor
®Began in one village in 1976
®97% of equity owned by the (women) borrowers, remainder by the government
®2.6 million borrowers (95% women), over 1,000 branches
in over 42,000 villages.
12,000 staff.
®Has loaned more than US$3.9B since inception
®Over US$3.5B repaid with interest (98.75% recovery
rate); $290M loaned in the
last 12 months.
®Has never accepted any charity—has always been run as a profitable social enterprise
®46.5% of Grameen borrowers have crossed the poverty line