Middle East / North Africa

Since 2003, Grameen Foundation has supported microfinance across the Middle East and North Africa region as a means of creating opportunities for the area’s poorest, especially women.

• Nearly 75 million people live on less than $2.50 a day in the Middle East and North Africa.
• 10 to 20 million barely survive on less than $1.25 a day.
• It is estimated that only 25 percent of the region’s microfinance needs are currently being served.

In 2007, we collaborated with Bab Rizq Jameel Limited, a subsidiary of the Abdul Latif Jameel Group (ALJ), to found Grameen-Jameel Pan-Arab Microfinance Limited (Grameen-Jameel). Headquartered in Dubai, Grameen-Jameel is a joint venture company that oversees all regional activities for Grameen Foundation.  Modeled after the social business concept championed by Professor Muhammad Yunus, the company reinvests profits into the business rather than distributing dividends, which keeps capital flowing into the hands of borrowers who need it.

Between 2003 and 2009, Grameen Foundation and Grameen-Jameel facilitated nearly $50 million in financing for its partners. Grameen-Jameel has helped 12 partner microfinance institutions (MFIs) in eight countries reach more than 350,000 new clients and aims to engage more than one million new, active clients by 2011. To achieve this goal, Grameen-Jameel offers a suite of products and services that contribute to building the microfinance industry, meet MFI needs, and increase the industry’s ability to reach poor people, especially women. Grameen Foundation’s supports Grameen-Jameel’s regional activities in the capital markets, human capital management, social performance management, and technology for microfinance. 

Grameen Foundation and Grameen-Jameel work with MFIs to integrate scalable technology, ensuring their increased efficiency and fueling their growth. In 2009, Grameen-Jameel completed the first installation of Mifos Grameen Foundation’s open source management information system, in the Arab World at enda inter-arabe in Tunisia.  Enda expects Mifos will assist the MFI in managing its high growth from the current 100,000-plus poor clients across Tunisia to its target of 300,000 by the end of 2012.

Not only is Grameen-Jameel committed to providing MFIs in the region with the financial and technological support they need to make a difference in the lives of poor families, but it is also committed to fostering learning among peers in the microfinance industry. This collaborative learning allows industry leaders to share best practices on how to make the most impact in the communities they serve. In 2008, Grameen-Jameel led the first Arab Microfinance Symposium, which brought together investors and MFI executives in an effort to raise the profile of microfinance as an attractive local investment. Grameen-Jameel has led trainings for practitioners to learn how to use industry tools and organized business planning workshops for regional partners. It has sponsored scores of practitioners to receive training on best practices and study the Grameen Bank model in Bangladesh. Grameen-Jameel also partnered with Sanabel, a local microfinance network, and CGAP, a consortium housed at the World Bank, to launch the Arabic Microfinance Gateway to facilitate the spread of information on best practices among practitioners.

Grameen-Jameel has partners in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia and Yemen.

A Path out of Poverty 
With her first loan of 250 EGP (US$46), Zeinab started her business making wooden pots, crafts, and kitchen supplies. Now, she runs her own workshop from her home with three of her children. Read More >