The Microfinance Channel to Market

This presentation describes the activities of the Grameen Technology Center. The objectives which led to the creation of the Center were to:

• Make micro-credit delivery more efficient;
• Enhance income generating opportunities for the rural poor;
• Provide poor communities with access to information for better health and education.

The presentation discusses the projects taken up by the Center:

• The village computing project in India was launched 6 kiosks in Tamil Nadu in August 2003:
  • It provided a wide range of services like E-governance, on-line market, computer classes, copying, typing, desktop publishing, etc.
  • Its goals were to become profitable in 6 months and to develop a replicable, sustainable, business, technical and operational model for village computing.
  • The results of this program were very positive.
• The village phone program was launched in Bangladesh in 1997:
  • It was conceived as a weapon against poverty.
  • Its goal was to bring phone services to rural areas so that villagers could access information quickly.
  • This program too was successful.

The Center decided to replicate the village phone experience in other countries. It chose Uganda as the first country for replication:

• It created a new company in Uganda called the MTN village phone and also provided the equipment needed to operate these phones;
• The program was launched in 1993 with the aid of major donors and was successful.

The presentation concludes by outlining the steps for successful replication of programs.