Grameen-Jameel partner meeting celebrates achievements of reaching over 1,500,000 clients

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) December 21, 2011 -- December 21, 2011
Grameen-Jameel held its first regional partner meeting recently in Istanbul, Turkey, serving as a culmination of years of dedicated hard work to serve the poor and solidify partnerships. The meeting, attended by the largest and most respected microfinance institutions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, including Turkey, was to celebrate the achievements of Grameen-Jameel reaching to date over 1,500,000 clients living in poverty through partner microfinance institutions.

The Grameen-Jameel partner meeting was inaugurated by Grameen-Jameel Chairman, Mr. Zaher Al Munajjed, in addition to Mr. Fady Jameel, President of Abdul Latif Jameel Community Service Initiative and Grameen-Jameel Board director, and Mr. Alex Counts, President and CEO of Grameen Foundation and Grameen-Jameel Board director.

Founding father of microfinance and Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Muhammed Yunus was the keynote speaker at the Grameen-Jameel meeting. Throughout, Dr. Yunus shared his wealth of experience and vision to eradicate poverty. “Microfinance is a way of building future generations . . . dark clouds are gathering globally as we see economic challenges, which will not go away”. Microfinance, Dr Yunus argued, by contrast “is a shining hope, creating light at the end of the tunnel”.

A devoted supporter of microfinance, Grameen-Jameel’s mission is to alleviate poverty in the MENA region and Turkey by providing financing and support to underprivileged individuals; giving access to finance to support their micro-enterprises. Since 2003, Grameen-Jameel has collaborated with microfinance institutions in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and Yemen.

To date, Grameen-Jameel has reached over 1,500,000 microfinance clients in the MENA region and Turkey by providing over USD 60,000,000 in financing to the poor through microfinance institutions. Since 2010, Grameen-Jameel has helped support over 25,000 households in Turkey alone, through partner institutions Turkish Grameen Microcredit Program (TGMP) and Maya.

The Grameen-Jameel partner meeting Gala Dinner was held in Istanbul on December 14th and was attended by the Grameen-Jameel microfinance partners, Dr. Yunus, Grameen-Jameel Board Directors and shareholders, Toyota Turkey and distinguished guests to celebrate the event.