Grameen America
Encyclopedia
Grameen America is a 501(3) nonprofit microfinance
organization based in New York and founded by 2006 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus
. Grameen America's first branch, located in Jackson Heights, NY, opened in January 2008. Since that time, the organization has disbursed over $16 million USD to more than 5,500 members living below the poverty line in the United States.
Grameen America provides loans, savings programs, financial education, and credit establishment to low-income entrepreneurs. All loans are for income-generating purposes and help individuals to start or expand a small business. Common businesses include food carts, tailoring businesses, jewelery and crafts and salon services. Grameen America loans offer borrowers an alternative to predatory payday lenders, and allow them to increase weekly income and help provide for their families.
Grameen America uses the peer-group lending model pioneered by Professor Yunus and the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. To receive a loan with Grameen America, a prospective borrower must form a group of five peers and attend a weekly Center Meeting where they repay the principal and interest and deposit savings.
As of April 2011, Grameen America operates in Queens, Brooklyn, and Upper Manhattan, NY, as well as in Omaha, NE.
Development Team
Credit Operations
Microfinance
Microfinance is the provision of financial services to low-income clients or solidarity lending groups including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and related services....
organization based in New York and founded by 2006 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi economist and founder of the Grameen Bank, an institution that provides microcredit to help its clients establish creditworthiness and financial self-sufficiency. In 2006 Yunus and Grameen received the Nobel Peace Prize...
. Grameen America's first branch, located in Jackson Heights, NY, opened in January 2008. Since that time, the organization has disbursed over $16 million USD to more than 5,500 members living below the poverty line in the United States.
Grameen America provides loans, savings programs, financial education, and credit establishment to low-income entrepreneurs. All loans are for income-generating purposes and help individuals to start or expand a small business. Common businesses include food carts, tailoring businesses, jewelery and crafts and salon services. Grameen America loans offer borrowers an alternative to predatory payday lenders, and allow them to increase weekly income and help provide for their families.
Grameen America uses the peer-group lending model pioneered by Professor Yunus and the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. To receive a loan with Grameen America, a prospective borrower must form a group of five peers and attend a weekly Center Meeting where they repay the principal and interest and deposit savings.
As of April 2011, Grameen America operates in Queens, Brooklyn, and Upper Manhattan, NY, as well as in Omaha, NE.
Management
Board of Directors- Muhammad YunusMuhammad YunusMuhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi economist and founder of the Grameen Bank, an institution that provides microcredit to help its clients establish creditworthiness and financial self-sufficiency. In 2006 Yunus and Grameen received the Nobel Peace Prize...
- Chairman of the Board of Directors of Grameen America - H.I. Latifee
- Vidar Jorgensen
- Ray Dalio
- Michael D. Granoff
- Mahmoud Mamdani
- John Megrue
Development Team
- Stephen Vogel - CEO, Grameen America
- Seema Gohil - Vice President, Grameen America
- Molly McGrath - Vice President, Grameen America
- Katherine Rosenberg - Vice President, Grameen America
- Mugdha Gangopadhyay- Director, Strategy & Development
- Danielle LeBlanc- Director, Program & Grants
- Ben Rottman- Director, Government and Legal Affairs
- Michael Tong- Director, Business Development
Credit Operations
- Shah Newaz - CEO of Operations
- Habibur Rahman Chowdhury - Branch Manager, Omaha
- T.M. Abdus Salam - Branch Manager, Brooklyn
- Shah Alam - Branch Manager, Queens
- MD Asaduzzaman- Branch Manager, Upper Manhattan