The Grameen Bank, founded in Bangladesh by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, who is also credited for giving life to the concept of microcredit/microfinance, is one of the most popular models of social business, a business that operates primarily for addressing social needs and not for-profit. Based on the concept of microfinance, Grameen provides microloans, small loans, to the poor and those living beyond the reach of traditional finance, in order to promote income generating activities, avoiding the more traditional form of poverty alleviation - aid donations. The original focus of the Grameen Bank was on rural people with no credit history and no collateral. However, the bank rapidly expanded, giving the illusion of a win-win situation that yielded both profits for Grameen Bank and huge improvements in development for Bangladesh. Private, for-profit organizations around the world wrongly judged the situation, thinking that they could first and foremost profit from this type of venture while developing the country in the process. This view was indeed tainted since Grameen’s goal was development and any profits were an added bonus. Because of these wrong expectations, the Grameen model has achieved limited success in countries other than those in South-East Asia, though the concept of microfinance has had better luck, with many countries now running profitable microfinance institutions that typically charge considerably higher interest rates for zero collateral loans than Grameen ever would.
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