"As a daughter of immigrants myself, I feel a strong connection with this program, and am proud to help others who have come to this country to make a better life for themselves and their families" says Tanya Palit who is the project manager for Grameen America.

Tanya joined Grameen America in the summer of 2008. Grameen America aims to bring the Nobel Prize- winning Grameen Bank’s group lending model to underbanked communities in the Boston area. She cultivates relationships with potential supporters and donors for Grameen America, and supports the team on other fundraising and development projects.

She worked previously for The Akshaya Patra Foundation, a Boston area non-profit that runs a large scale school lunch program in India. Tanya holds a Master’s degree in International Development and Social Change from Clark University, (Worcester, MA). She was a Fulbright scholar to Bangladesh in 2004, where she worked with BRAC, one of the country’s largest microfinance institutions.

She talked to Lokvani about Grameen America's new initiatives.

Grameen has been identified so long with development in Bangladesh. What was the motivation to bring Grameen to America?

 Despite being one of the wealthiest countries in the world, poverty still pervades the United States. The Center for Financial Services Innovation reported in 2008 that there are 40 million families and 106 million individuals in this country who lack access to basic financial services. In the United States, breaking the cycle of poverty is almost impossible to do without having a good credit score and access to services like bank accounts and loans for major purchases. The Grameen model of microfinance has been successful in 38 countries around the world, and we believe that it will make a real impact on poverty in this country as well.

How does microfinance in Urban America differ from rural Bangladesh?

 What is surprising is how similarly to the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh that the Grameen America microfinance program operates in Queens, NY. For example, our Center Managers (the Grameen bankers) meet with their groups of borrowers face-to-face each week, collect payments in cash, and record the payments manually in a book. They meet in the borrowers’ homes or places of work and worship, as they do in Bangladesh. I worked for a microfinance organization in Bangladesh and was surprised to see how similar the Grameen operations are on both sides of the ocean. The cultural landscape of urban New York is obviously much more diverse, and we have borrowers from all over the world: Bangladesh, Brazil, Ecuador, Haiti and a half dozen other countries. That is the main distinction from a place like Bangladesh, where there is less cultural heterogeneity.

What is the goal of Grameen America?

Grameen America’s goal is to help low-income people lift themselves out of poverty through entrepreneurship and financial training. We ultimately aim to graduate our borrowers not only out of poverty, but also into the financial mainstream, where they can be reliable borrowers and responsible savers. This ultimately improves to the overall financial health of any community.


What are the plans for Grameen Boston?

Our team here is working hard to raise the initial $2 million in capital needed to bring a branch of Grameen America to Boston. As soon as we can accomplish this, we can have a branch here in less than one year. We need all of the help we can get to establish this kind of support, particularly securing anchor support from 1-2 major institutions. It is exciting to think that a concept that Professor Yunus pioneered 30 years ago in rural Bangladesh could help low-income people in our own backyard of Boston. That is what really inspired me to work for this organization.

Can you tell us a little about Grameen Health?

Grameen Health aims to build a sustainable health infrastructure for all people of Bangladesh. Currently, Grameen Health has 48 rural primary clinics that are 93% self-sustaining through a combination of micro-health insurance, payment at the point of service, lab tests, and pharmaceutical sales. In the future, Grameen Health wants to expand this network of clinics and to build a health city through social business partnerships.

What kinds of partnerships are you seeking from the South Asian community in New England for Grameen Boston and Grameen Health?
 

The South Asian community of the Boston area can help us in raising the first $2 million for Grameen America here. We are in the process of connecting with various people, foundations and corporations that have an interest in supporting innovative solutions to poverty like Grameen America, and the community can help us to do that. There is a well established South Asian presence in this part of the country, and one that is invested in the well being of the Boston community that has helped it flourish. In terms of Grameen Health, we are looking for strong linkages with academic institutions such as medical schools, nursing schools, and business schools. We would also like to know about innovative technologies and business processes delivering low-cost health care to the poor.


At this time of crisis, are their special learning from the "Yunus" style of economics that could save the world from facing such problems in the future?

Grameen Bank Founder Muhammad Yunus often speaks about how the notion of financial credit was once rooted in the word’s textual meaning: to believe or trust. Giving someone a line of credit meant that they could be trusted to pay back their debts. Instead of building on this idea of trust, Professor Yunus points out that large banks have “built a whole edifice of credit institutions, refined, very sophisticated, entirely based on distrust (Wall Street Journal, March 1, 2008).” The microcredit loans that Grameen America provides to its 500 borrowers in New York are based on the assumption that each borrower has good intentions and wants to pay back her loan. The lesson is that people-centered banking is not just good work, its also good business.


Anything else you would like to share with us?

 Grameen America aims to ultimately serve all low-income people throughout the United States who lack access to credit and financial services, but it will first focus on immigrants. Immigrants tend to be highly entrepreneurial, form closely-knit communities, and are less likely to be on welfare (whose regulations can be challenging to navigate if starting a business through a program like Grameen America). As a daughter of immigrants myself, I feel a strong connection with this program, and am proud to help others who have come to this country to make a better life for themselves and their families.

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