Grameen Foundation

September 20, 2011 – Grameen Foundation today announced Qualcomm Incorporated, through its Wireless Reach initiative™, will match the funding it received in the Powering Economic Opportunity: Create a World that Works contest, co-hosted by the eBay Foundation and Ashoka Changemakers. The foundati…

September 20, 2011 – Grameen Foundation today announced Qualcomm Incorporated, through its Wireless Reach initiative™, will match the funding it received in the Powering Economic Opportunity: Create a World that Works contest, co-hosted by the eBay Foundation and Ashoka Changemakers. The foundation received a grant from eBay to help expand its initiative to create mobile phone microfranchise businesses for the poor in Indonesia. Grameen Foundation was among five organizations selected from 900 entries from 83 countries. The winners represent some of the world’s most innovative market-based solutions that are creating economic opportunity and generating employment for disadvantaged populations.

In Indonesia, where more than 180 million live on less than $2.50/day, this microfranchise initiative is providing a predictable and reliable stream of income for poor families. The new funding will help expand the current network of more than 8,500 entrepreneurs to 60,000 over the next three years. The microfranchisees – the majority of whom are women – sell airtime minutes in their communities and, through this expanded network, will soon be able to provide an estimated 4.5 million customers with access to job listings, a mobile marketplace, vital information on health and agriculture, mobile banking services and mentoring for small business owners.

“We believe poor people can improve their own lives if they are given the appropriate tools and opportunities,” said Alex Counts, president and CEO of Grameen Foundation. “We are extremely pleased to have been selected from such a wide pool of global entrants and want thank our supporters for voting. Qualcomm has been a great ally in our work and we appreciate its steadfast support for our efforts to bring new opportunities to Indonesia’s poor.”

“The long standing collaboration between Qualcomm’s Wireless Reach initiative and Grameen Foundation is a powerful and outstanding example of how organizations can come together to create innovative and sustainable solutions for people who are living at the base of the economic pyramid,” said Shawn A. Covell, vice president of government affairs at Qualcomm. “We are proud to support the Grameen Foundation’s work and accomplishments in helping to lift people out of poverty and enable new entrepreneurs using wireless technology.”

PT Ruma, an Indonesian social enterprise that was incubated by Grameen Foundation and Wireless Reach two years ago to support the network, will recruit and train the microfranchisees and manage the business services they offer.

A study conducted by Grameen Foundation’s Bankers without Borders® volunteers found that 47 percent of the entrepreneurs who stayed in the mobile microfranchise program for more than two months doubled their income by their fourth month.

The winning solutions in the Powering Economic Opportunity: Create a World that Works contest were selected through a combination of public voting and expert evaluation. The ten finalists selected through public voting were judged on their innovation, social impact, and sustainability by an international panel of experts to determine the five winners.

September 21, 2011 – Grameen Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) today announced that they are jointly providing a $1.5 million credit guarantee to the Peruvian savings and credit cooperative Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito (ABACO) to support approximately $3 mill…

September 21, 2011 – Grameen Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) today announced that they are jointly providing a $1.5 million credit guarantee to the Peruvian savings and credit cooperative Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito (ABACO) to support approximately $3 million for local currency financing to two socially-focused Peruvian microfinance institutions (MFIs).

ABACO will receive a $300,000 loan guarantee from Grameen Foundation and a $1.2 million loan guarantee from USAID. In turn, ABACO will provide ProMujer Peru with $2 million and Asociacion Arariwa with $1 million in loan financing. Both organizations work with clients in rural areas of Peru to provide financing and education to microentrepreneurs and agricultural producers.

Peru has an established microfinance sector, with mature institutions having relatively easy access to international capital markets. However, there continues to be a great need for local currency financing, especially among smaller microfinance institutions, which traditionally have not been eligible for loans from local banks.

Through this credit guarantee with ABACO, Grameen and USAID are able to support multiple MFIs through one umbrella agreement. Grameen Foundation and USAID expect to facilitate additional local currency financing under this arrangement with ABACO, helping it to expand its client base to include smaller MFIs that focus on the rural poor. The organizations also plan to use this model in other countries.
“This unique global partnership with Grameen will enable us to make more microfinance loans available to borrowers around the world” said USAID’s Administrator Rajiv Shah. “By unlocking local private capital to support underserved microentrepreneurs, this opportunity will help leverage our core development investments and deliver meaningful results for the people of Peru.”

“While Peru is one of the most competitive microfinance markets globally, there are still areas of the country that have not benefitted from these services,” said Alex Counts, P-President and CEO of Grameen Foundation. “We are pleased to work with USAID and ABACO to help Pro Mujer Peru and Arariwa get the local financing they need to reach deeper into poor, marginalized communities, particularly in rural areas.”

“ABACO is committed to promoting financial access and inclusion through its associated microfinance institutions. This strategic alliance with Grameen Foundation and USAID will help us meet the financing needs of microfinance practitioners in Peru,” said Rocio Miyashiro Kiyan, CEO of Cooperativa ABACO.

The guarantees were arranged through a Grameen Foundation-USAID collaboration that makes up to $162.5 million in local currency financing available to MFIs globally by offering a wider range of financing options from local commercial lenders.

Paul Maritz, Chair
Robert Eichfeld, Vice-Chair
Rosanna Ramos-Velita
Robert Ottenhoff, Secretary
Nurjahan Begum
Susan Davis
Jennifer Drogula
Vikram Gandhi
James L. Greenberg
Susan McCaw
David Russell
Muhammad Yunus, Director, Emeritus
Alex Counts, President and CEO
Si White, Treasurer
Peter Cowhey
Beverly Armstrong