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How to Shop and Give Microloans at The Same Time |
Written by Jenene Allison
on Friday, 19 June 2009
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Imagine the most delicious dinner ingredients you could buy for $27 at Whole Foods… a bit of fresh wild-caught salmon with organic potatoes, snap peas, and blueberries or a gluten-free cookie for dessert. It would be a slice of heaven for the discerning health-conscious, eco-minded consumer.
Now, what would $27 mean in a poor nation?
In Bangladesh in 1982, that tiny bit of money meant the start of an organization with a new idea on how to alleviate poverty. Taking just $27 from his own pocket, Muhammed Yunus started the Grameen Bank (“village bank”). The $27 was distributed in micro-loans to very poor women trying to support themselves with basket-weaving. With these small loans many of the women became self-sufficient and worked their way out of poverty. Today the Grameen Bank serves 2.1 million borrowers in Bangladesh, has been replicated in 58 countries (including the U.S. now), and boasts an extraordinary 98% repayment rate. Yunus and the Grameen Bank received the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.
Last year Grameen America was launched in a low-income neighborhood in Queens, New York. Already the bank has lent more than $1million to support low-income entrepreneurs as they start and run their own business.
On June 24, in celebration of Grameen America’s work in New York City, Whole Foods will donate 5% of sales at their five New York stores to the microfinance institution. This will give a public face to Whole Foods’ generosity, but the company's employees have already given $745,000 from their paychecks to support microcredit services for the poorest of the poor.
Who knows what all those 5% will add up to on Wednesday June 24? It will certainly be much more than $27, and distributed as micro-loans to low-income entrepreneurs in Queens it will mean 100% of what it takes to launch a small business and take a step toward prosperity.
I think Grameen Bank serves about 7 million in Bangladesh
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