Grameen Foundation : Resource Center : Print Newsletter : Fall 2003
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In this issue:
Borrower Profile: Annette Michael
Project Enterprise (PE) provides tiny loans and other financial services to micro-entrepreneurs in the New York City area who are living at or below the poverty line. GFUSA has provided both financial and high level volunteer support to PE since 1998. Since then, PE has helped determined individuals like Annette Michael (profiled below) overcome obstacles and setbacks to achieve economic stability and success.
GFUSA Announces 2003 Award Nominees
Ringing in a New Era in Rural Uganda
In March 2003, GFUSA's Grameen Technology Center launched the Village Phone Project in Uganda. Modeled on the successful Village Phone Program pioneered by Grameen Telecom in Bangladesh, this initiative will enable microcredit borrowers to purchase mobile phone kits to start cellular pay phone businesses in their villages. Team members Michael Eber, Abser Kamal, and Ryan Stanley have been working diligently on the ground in Uganda to ensure the project's success. Below, Michael Eber describes the impact that wireless communication is already having on one of the first villages connected through this effort.
Donors' Corner: H. Rick Mashhoon
In an uncertain economic climate, people who want to create a more just world are increasingly seeking to support organizations that demonstrate the financial soundness they would look for in a for-profit enterprise and ones that leverage each philanthropic investment to achieve the broadest impact possible. For philanthropists like Rick Mashhoon, profiled below, Grameen Foundation USA (GFUSA) meets these criteria by employing a sound business model to achieve a social objective.
The Grameen Shikkha Scholarship Program
Grameen Shikkha, a member of the Grameen Family of Companies, was founded with the knowledge that, when combined with microcredit, education can accelerate the poverty reduction process. Grameen Shikkha recently launched a new Scholarship Program, profiled below, to help poor students (many of them children of Grameen borrowers) achieve their educational goals.
The PLAN Fund:Achieving Independence Through Local Partnerships
The PLAN Fund of Dallas, Texas, a microfinance institution (MFI) currently implemented directly by GFUSA, is in the final stages of completing a three-year incubation period and becoming an independent non-profit. Read below to see how the PLAN Fund is leveraging local partnerships to secure the resources needed to reach growing numbers of low-income Dallas families.
Grameen Foundation : Resource Center : Print Newsletter : Fall 2003
Grameen Foundation uses microfinance and innovative technology to fight global poverty and bring opportunities to the world's poorest people. With tiny loans and financial services, we help the poor, mostly women, start businesses and escape poverty. Our global network of 55 microfinance institution (MFI) partners including our Growth Guarantee partners has touched more than 34 million people in 24 countries. In addition, we introduced and now sustain technology initiatives (Mifos and Village Phone) in Cameroon, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, bringing our total country outreach to 28.
+1-202-628-3560 www.grameenfoundation.org
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