Day 5: One Week Review (August 5)

We were given a free day on Thursday, which is the end of the work week in Bangladesh, to reflect on the week, prepare for the upcoming Village excursion and to conduct independent research using the Grameen library.  The first week of my internship with Grameen Bank was very exciting, informative and eye-opening.  I had decided to focus my internship on the Grameen social businesses and to critically analyzing Grameen Center operations and replication projects. 

Here is an outline of the structure of Grameen Bank.  In the following posts, I will present Loan products and restrictions along with some other relevant background information.

Grameen Corporate Structure

Supervisory :

I: Head Office

a. 13 departments

b. 40 Zonal Office

1. 268 Area Offices (or 8-10 Area Offices per Zone)

Operations:

II: Branch Office (2564 branches) or 8-10 branches per Area

a. Center Office (60-70 Centers per Branch)

III: Center

-Center leader: elected by group chairman and must approve loans before disbursement.

a. Group Basis Lending

-8-10 groups per Center

**Classical System (1976 – 2000)

-5 people per group

-Group Chairman and Group Secretary (elected yearly)

-3 general members

**Current System (2000 – current)

-6-7 people (max 10) per group