Promoting Microcapitalism in the Service of the Poor: The Grameen Model and Its Cross-Cultural Adaptation

Abstract

The Grameen (rural) Bank of Bangladesh offers poor people credit withoutcollateral, and various other services, to help them undertake productivemicroenterprises and improve their socioeconomic conditions. Currently, anestimated 12 million men, women, and children benefit from the Bank's integrated financial and social-promotional services. In this paper, I analyzeGrameen's microcapitalistic philosophy and practice, its approach to organizingmicroenterprises, and its adaptability as a model to different cultural contexts,reviewing two of its international replication experiences. Grameen's microcapitalism seeks freedom of individual thought and action for the poor by givingthem access to credit as a fundamental human right. Grameen's combinedorganizing approach allows its employees and clients to create and share normsthat prompt them to pursue concertive action for change. The two internationalreplication experiences described here underline the adaptability of theGrameen model to different cultures and the centrality of cultural dynamics tothe shaping of organizational communication policies and practices.