MICROFINANCE IN AMERICA?

Lending Sufia Khatun a small sum to make and sell bamboo stools in her Bangladeshi village back in 1974 placed Muhammad Yunus at the heart of a radical movement. It is a movement that has come to be known as “microlending” and one that has radically transformed poverty alleviation efforts throughout the developing world. Today, Yunus, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering role in microlending, is trying to ignite that same movement in the United States. That has been a slower go.

Microlending has revolutionized aid and development efforts in Africa, Asia, Latin America and certain parts of the Middle East. It did so by proving that the poor can lift themselves out of poverty with a hand-up, rather than a handout. The poor could build businesses with just a small amount of credit. This has inspired millions to rally behind entrepreneurship. It has also led many to ask whether microloans can have the same affect in a developed country where although entrepreneurship and financial services are plentiful, may be out of reach for some.

In 2008 Yunus rose to the challenge to prove that microlending wasn’t about developing and developed – the poor faced the same challenges regardless of wherever they are in the world. He along with several corporate sponsors including Citi Foundation and Capital One launched Grameen America in New York. Since then the financial outfit – not bank - has been serving the poor, mainly women, throughout four of the city’s five boroughs (Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens) as well as Omaha, Nebraska and Indianapolis, Indiana. In four years, Grameen America has facilitated loans to over 9,000 borrowers valued over $35 million. It has had, as Grameen CEO Stephen Vogel notes, “a 99 percent repayment rate.”

Given how Grameen America is structured that is no surprise. Loans of up to USD $1500 are dispensed only to groups of five, mostly women, who complete a five-day financial training course and present a viable business idea. They are ideas that range from catering to salon services to clothing and jewelry making that allow the women to increase their income by USD $3000 a year, a significant amount Vogel notes. “Our borrowers live below the poverty line, generally earning less than USD $15,000 a year,” he says. According to Vogel none have bank accounts or credit cards. I did not speak to any of the women.

The ability for these women to set up savings accounts (Grameen America asked that I change it from bank to savings account, noting that they do not help the women with other banking services) and earn additional income is no doubt a huge benefit. Vogel points out that without Grameen America “there is no possibility of someone (below the poverty line) going into a bank and getting a loan – the banks wouldn’t entertain it.” Yet, as Reuters’s Felix Salmon pointed out last year, that Grameen America is not a depository institution is one of its biggest shortcomings. It has no prospect of helping the women that it’s targeting to scale up their mom-and-pop storefronts into viable businesses. Hence, these women, while no longer struggling, continue to stay poor. Grameen America is just a middleman encouraging the poor to save and providing them with loans where no one else will. Still, it is a role that in our tough economic times needs to be valued.

“We’re trying to get our borrowers to create jobs for themselves and create four more jobs for others.” They’re also trying to encourage borrowers to save, which is not easy if you don’t have the security of a bank. Savings has shown to have a significant impact on poor communities. According to The Economist, getting the poor into a banking system “not only keeps their wages secure; it also reduces crime.” Security, I’ve determined, is paramount to financial stability and entrepreneurial success.

So too is an ecosystem that includes mentors, networks, the free flow of capital, smart regulation, strong courts and space for research and development. Grameen America isn’t quite that. But it is a platform for those to get their grounding and have the opportunity to change their circumstances for the next generation. To Catch a Dollar, the movie about the organization that was released last year reinforces that point.

Vogel told me that when he was in Bangladesh in 2009 he met a Grameen borrower whose granddaughter was going to nursing school. “This is not a quick process, it will take a generation to fix.” It was a process, he noted, that he and Grameen America were committed to seeing through.

SOURCE: ELMLRA BAYRASLI

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