Grameen Foundation : Where we work : Middle East / North Africa
The Arab World (Middle East/North Africa)
Poverty remains a critical problem in the Middle East and North Africa. An estimated 75 million people in the region live on less than $2 a day, of which 10-20 million barely survive on less than $1 per day. It is also estimated that only 25 percent of the region’s potential microfinance market is currently being served.
Working in collaboration with the Bab Rizq Jameel Limited, a subsidiary of the Abdul Latif Jameel Group (ALJ), one of the leading business groups in the Arab World, Grameen Foundation is committed to supporting the growth and impact of microfinance across the region. The relationship between Grameen Foundation and ALJ began in 2003 as a partnership called the Grameen-Jameel Initiative for the Arab World. In May 2007, that alliance was consolidated with the formation of Grameen-Jameel Pan-Arab Microfinance Limited (Grameen-Jameel), a joint venture company incorporated in Cyprus. Modeled after the social business enterprise concept that has been promoted by 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the company will reinvest all of its profits in the business rather than distribute dividends. The new entity is a for-profit company with a social
business structure. The support of the initiative, and now the joint venture, will enable leading MFIs in the region to increase the breadth and depth of their outreach, as well as improve their financial and operational sustainability to better serve their clients on a long-term basis. Grameen-Jameel’s vision is to reach 1 million new active microfinance clients in the Arab world by 2011.
In order to realize this goal, the company forms strategic partnerships with microfinance institutions (MFIs) who share its values:
- Commitment to reaching women and the very poor
- Aggressive plans for growth
- Financial Sustainability
- Transparency
In addition to partnerships, Grameen-Jameel’s strategy includes developing industry tools to strengthen the Arab microfinance sector. They will serve as public goods available to the entire sector whether or not an institution is a Grameen-Jameel partner.
Between 2003 and 2008, the initiative and now Grameen-Jameel has facilitated nearly $45 million in financing for its partners through a combination of direct loans and its $50 million guarantee fund. This includes the first commercial debt facility in Syria for a microfinance institution on behalf of First Microfinance Institution, the first licensed non-banking financial institution in the Arab World. In 2008 it also led the first Arab Microfinance Symposium, which brought together 140 investors and MFI executives in an effort to raise the profile of microfinance as an attractive asset class to the local investment community. It has completed the first installation of Mifos, Grameen Foundation’s open source management information system, in the Arab World at enda inter-arabe, its partner in Tunisia. Grameen-Jameel has also provided consulting on management information systems to almost 20 MFIs in the region.
Grameen-Jameel has led trainings for partners and other practitioners to learn how to use industry tools, directed business planning workshops for partners throughout the region, and sponsored scores of practitioners to receive training on best practices and also sponsored more than 80 staff of Arab MFIs and other industry organizations to study the approach of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh by organizing three “Arabic Dialogues” – intensive training seminars with a strong emphasis on field-based training with simultaneous translation into Arabic.
Finally, the initiative commissioned the translation of scores of manuals, white papers, and other microfinance publications into Arabic for the first time. It partnered with Sanabel, the microfinance network for the Middle East and North Africa, and CGAP, a multi-donor consortium housed at the World Bank, to launch the Arabic Microfinance Gateway to facilitate the spread of information on best practices among microfinance practitioners. And it facilitated the production of commercials featuring microfinance clients that were broadcast throughout the region courtesy of Mohammad Jameel as a way of inspiring the general public to realize the potential of microfinance and female entrepreneurship in the region.
Read about our work in the Arab World:
Grameen Foundation : Where we work : Middle East / North Africa
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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