The Hindu Business Line : Bengal wants to replicate Grameen model

There is a buzz of activity at the Grameen headquarters in Dhaka; congratulatory messages are pouring in, along with interview requests from print and electronic media all over the world, as well as invitations from different countries to felicitate this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, Prof. Muhammad Yunus, Managing Director, Grameen Bank. And requests to help replicate the Grameen model elsewhere in the world. Micro-credit is back in business.

The latest request for a felicitation function is from West Bengal.

"The Chief Minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee spoke to me and the West Bengal Finance Minister called this morning saying that `when you come please keep some extra time, so we can sit down with some serious business'. Apparently, people are pressuring him that `how come in Bangladesh micro-credit is happening in such a big way, and you're not doing it here'," Prof Yunus told Business Line. He thinks India could do much better on micro-credit; "already there is a culture of rural enterprise in India, and it can help so many people."

The latest buzzword in the Grameen family is `social business enterprise' and football sensation Zinedine Zidane is already in Dhaka to inaugurate a joint venture of Grameen with the French major Danone, which will roll out yoghurt packed with vitamins and other micro-nutrients for the malnourished children of Bangladesh.

The $3-million venture will be jointly funded by Grameen Bank and Danone, with each getting back only its capital. Danone will get a dividend of one per cent from this venture and nothing more. The man who wants to replicate this business model with other companies, maintaining that business can't always be for maximising profits, says, "My message is simple: If Danone is doing it, it's not that wild an idea!"