Grameen America, Inc.

Grameen Trust launched a microcredit program, Grameen America, Inc. (GAI) in New York City of the United States of America in 2007, following its Build-Operate-Manage (BOM) model to serve the poor and immigrants, especially the women of these communities. Introduction of Grameen microcredit program in the richest country of the world may seem astounding to many people. But the reality is that out of America's 300 million inhabitants, around 28 million people in the US are unbanked and nearly 45 million have very limited access to financial institutions. Having taken the initiative to establish microcredit projects following GB methodology in many countries, Grameen Trust has now taken initiative to serve the poor people in USA with financial services who have no access to commercial banks. Alongside the loan program, Grameen America Inc. will introduce other programs such as savings programs, credit establishment, remittance and other services to its clientele.

The groundwork of Grameen America, Inc. was started in 2007. The first branch of GAI has been opened in Jackson Heights of New York City. The Jackson Heights branch has been formally launched in April 2008 with the august presence of the Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus. In his inaugural speech Professor Muhammad Yunus termed this branch as the "Jobra of America". He said that the expansion of GAI operation will depend on the performance of this branch.

At the initial phase of project operation, the staff of GAI faced several challenges. Due to high rental expenses of houses in New York City, finding out suitable places for conducting center meetings was a big problem. This problem was solved by forming centers with smaller number of groups so that the center meetings could be held at the borrower's houses. Another challenge was the formation of groups. The potential members were initially reluctant to form groups with other members from different backgrounds. Moreover, the engagement of most of the members in non-official jobs has posed a problem in setting up suitable time for center meetings.

However, GAI staff could sort out the problems through discussions and negotiations. Now the program is running with great momentum overcoming all the challenges. It reached an important milestone in November, 2008 by disbursing more than US$ 1 million to 380 borrowers just within a year of project operation. It hopes to increase its volume of growth and reach out to more people, who are excluded from the mainstream financial services. GAI has a plan of opening two more branches in the next year.