Bangladesh Experience: Center meetings and Interviews- Village

I could write different stories of each woman, but I think the best is to try to summarize it and giving some examples. For me, the most important characteristic that called my attention was the long-term relationship the borrowers have with the bank. Since my visit in the urban replication I was questioning myself why they keep loans for 10, 12 or even 19 years! Well, after talking to the members, I understood they are always re-investing the money in their small business (such as Saris, broom productions, pick up for transportation of several things vegetables, furniture, etc..). They also prefer to keep this loan relationship long, because they have good benefits. They keep a good amount of savings mainly in a product called GPS that works as a pension fund. They can also access student loans or scholarships for their children.

For instance I interviewed one woman who I met in the ”New members approval meeting”. She was joining Grameen Bank to start a vegetable business, but the main reason for her was her desire to save money in order to guarantee the future of her three daughter’s education.

I also saw some differences between the rural area and the city. The sample group is small, but the center meeting I had participated in Dhaka, the women had fewer children than the one’s in the villages. Another difference is that in the village usually women borrow the money to their husband and sons to run the business; while in the city they usually run the business themselves and the husband works for other people or companies.

Even though the men run the business, the women are bringing ideas and participating in family decisions. This is an important change comparing to some years ago.

When I asked them what be successful meant to them, they mentioned they have voice at home and now they are working for themselves, while before they were working for others.

One example is Jasmin. She had the idea and took the initiative to expand the family pickup business (transport of food, furniture or any other product). In the very beginning the family had one pickup but later with Grameen Bank loan, they bought 2 more pickups. She believes they couldn’t have achieved the same results without Grameen Bank. She also attributes their success to her hard working husband. They have 3 employees and make at least 260.000 BDT per month. (2.600 euros) which is more than enough to pay the weekly installment of 10.000 BDT. The outstanding loan is 400.000 BDT and she has 250.000 BDT in savings with GB. She has been with Grameen for more than 9 years and is planning to increase the loan amount to expand even more the business.

I also interviewed people who left Grameen Bank for different reasons. One family had taken a loan for trade sari business but after 4 years he realized he didn’t need the loan anymore. Other family who is in the sari production business, left Grameen after the institution had denied a loan increase. He is working with another microcredit institution, even though he believes Grameen Bank is more reliable. The actual branch manager was not in the branch at that time and he told me this family can be a potential client for Grameen. Finally, I talked to a family who couldn’t repay the debt. They had some poultry, which was affected by a disease, and they still have an outstanding debt with Grameen Bank.