Grameen Bank

Grameen Bank provides replication guidelines - see link at [1]

From Guidelines -

Today, Grameen Bank is the largest bank in Bangladesh. It serves more than 8.3 million members, 98% 

of them women. All entered the Bank practically landless and asset-less, and with income well below the poverty line. One of the Bank’s most noteworthy aspects is its ownership structure: Borrowers own 95% of the bank, with the government holding the remaining 5%. Each member of Grameen is required to buy at least 1 share. The Bank’s 24,000 employees provide services across more than 95% of the national territory, in about 81,000 villages, through more than 2,500 branch offices.

Housing

• GB also offers housing loans for the poor, as adequate shelter is one of the basic requirements in order

for people to organize their lives, achieve mental stability and undertake plans and programs for doing something meaningful. Home ownership instills very poor members with a sense of confidence and dignity. That in turn allows them to start dreaming of a better and fuller life. Since group members use their houses as their place of work, that helped prompt the Grameen Bank to offer them housing loans.

Mission

Grameen’s leadership and staff recognize that the delivery of microcredit is not the primary objective. Instead, it is a key tool for confronting and addressing the vicious cycle of poverty. Poverty alleviation and its eventual eradication is the ultimate organizational goal.

Metrics

• Grameen published a Progress out of Peverty Index - measuring poverty - how about this as opposed to $2/day?

OSE Relevance by MJ

How do we apply the analogue of Grameen to OSE? I'm impressed with the stated mission of providing 'financial independence' via entrepreneurship. I think we can do even better than 'loans' if we provide 'loans' with enterprise training. Here is where Open Source Product Development comes in: imagine a repository of high value things that can be produced in an Open Source Microfactory: car, cordless drill, tractor, 3d printer, house. Or, common appliances and electronics made with 3D Printer, CNC Circuit Mill, Open Source Multimachine, Open Source Pick and Place Machine, Open Source Welder, Open Source Water Jet Cutter. Etc. A critical core of open source machines that can make anything. Or, as simple as with 3D Printer, and Metal-Plastic Composites, and CNC Circuit Mill to make many electronics including small appliances, small hand tools. These enterprises can be replicated widely as Home-Scale Enterprise a la Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, or the enterprise can take the form of an open source microfactory - like the open source version of Tech Shop. Or the vision of the Fab City. The concept of industrial productivity on a small scale with open source toolchains and designs can be the translation of the Grameen model to a 'financial independence' model via a productive enterprise ecosystem that collaborates globally. And Amazon and Walmart will be replaced in the future by corresponding facilities of local production in a post-scarcity economy. It may be worthwhile to organize a future X-Prize-style event to deliver on the full version of the Open Source Microfactory.