1. Muhammad
Yunus
The Grameen Bank Logo

2. What is poverty?
Poverty is an issue that has been plaguing the world for many years.
Poverty is general scarcity or the state of one who lacks a certain
amount of material possessions or money. Many countries like Ethiopia
and Malawi are poor, with GDP per capita of below $520.
Introduction : Poverty

3. Introduction : Grameen Bank
Grameen Bank (GB) has reversed conventional banking practice by
removing the need for collateral and created a banking system based
on mutual trust, accountability, participation and creativity.
At GB, credit is a cost effective weapon to fight poverty and it serves as
a catalyst in the overall development of socio-economic conditions of
the poor who have been kept outside the banking orbit on the ground
that they are poor and hence not bankable.

4. History of the Grameen Bank
To minimize poverty, the Grameen Bank was formed. The Grameen
Bank originated in 1976, in the work of Professor Muhammad Yunus at
University of Chittagong, who launched a research project to study how
to design a credit delivery system to provide banking services to the
poor in rural areas.
In October 1983 the Grameen Bank was authorized by national
legislation as an independent bank. In 2006, the bank and its founder,
Muhammad Yunus, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1998
the Bank's "Low-cost Housing Program" won a World Habitat Award.
Majority of the bank’s borrower’s were poor women.

5. Impacts of The Grameen Bank
Grameen Foundation gave out “micro-loans”, and in 1983 formed the
Grameen Bank, meaning “village bank”, it was founded on principles of
trust and solidarity. Today, Grameen Bank has 2564 branches, with
19800 staff serving 8.29 million borrowers in more than 80000 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. Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank was
awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 2006 for their efforts to create
economic and social development from below.

6. Conclusion
Yunus’s long-term vision is to eliminate poverty in the world. That vision
can not be realised by means of micro-credit alone. But Muhammad
Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that, in the continuing efforts to
achieve it, micro-credit must play a major part.
“If we are not achieving something, it is because we have not put
our minds to it. We create what we want.”

7. ~Fin