Grameen America Celebrates its first decade

A gala celebration of ten years of Grameen America “A Decade of Empowerment” was held at Metropolitan Museum of Art (The MET) in New York City on 23 September. Grameen America was set up in 2008 inspired by Nobel Laureate professor Muhammad Yunus  completes its tenth year in 2017. It provides micro-credit to underprivileged women who do not have access to credit for income generating activities, to build a livelihood for themselves. It reached 100,000 women in 12 cities in the United States with microloans, having provided nearly one billion dollars in loans to disadvantaged groups in cities in New York, Newark , San Jose, Austin, Omaha, Indianapolis, Charlotte, Los Angeles and Boston with repayment record of 99.6 percent loan recovery and  financial  sustainibility for all 20 branches.

During the ceremony, Professor Muhammad Yunus, was honored with a Lifetime Award for his commitment and support to Grameen America. Ray Dalio, Founder of Bridgewater Associated and Director Emeritus of Grameen America, his wife Barbara Dalio, Former Board member of the Bruce Museum in Connecticut, and their son Paul Dalio, Screen writer, Director and Composer, all received Founders’ Award at the event. Andrea Jung, CEO of Grameen America, also spoke at the event. Professor Yunus daughter, Monica Yunus who is a soprano with the New York Metropolitan Opera, performed at the event.The event was attended by important businesspeople and philanthropists of the city.

Grameen America announced its plan to disburse ten billion dollars to half a million borrowers through a total of 40 branches by 2028.

Earlier in the day at the MET, Professor Yunus was a speaker at the ‘Fast Forward Women’s Innovation Forum’ hosted by the cofounders of Seneca Women, Melanne Verveer and Kim Azzarelli. There was an onstage discussion between Professor Yunus and Chelsea Clinton on the role of women in accelerating development.  Seneca Women is a global women strategy firm built with the aim of advancing girls and women for a thriving world.

During his visit Professor Yunus spoke at “We the Future: Accelerating Sustainable Business Solutions,” an event jointly hosted by UN Foundation, Skoll Foundation and TED at the TED Theatre.Professor Yunus gave a keynote address on ‘Social Business and Disruptive Technologies to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals’ at an event hosted by MakeSense, a France based youth organization for social change.

Professor Yunus is in the US for attending UN and other meetings  and releasing his new book  "A World of Three Zeroes". He will be travelling to several  cities to speak at events organised by local organisations  around  the release  of his  book starting in New York on 25 September and continuing on to Chicago,  Miami, Austin, Dallas,  San Francisco,  silicon valley, Seattle, and Washington DC.