Bangladesh phone ladies joined by beggars

Bangladesh phone ladies joined by beggars

Grameen Bank gives beggars phones instead of cash
12 Sep 2004 at 14:06 GMT Jos Schuurmans, Timo Poropudas
Grameen Bank, well-known for its micro-credit programs in Bangladesh, is empowering the poor by arming beggars with mobile phones so they can sell a roving service for cash. There is wide spread poverty among the 130 million population of Bangladesh where per capita income is only USD 444.


"Beggars are the one group so far left out of the bank's lending program and they deserve to be part of our network," said Dipal Chandra Barua, deputy managing director of Grameen Bank in Reuters article.


The bank, a brainchild of renowned Bangladeshi professor Mohammad Yunus, is helping millions of poor with small loans to start income-generating programs, such as poultry and cattle breeding, or handicraft-making.


Beggars would need to be a member of a Grameen Bank project to be eligible to get a mobile phone. Each mobile phone will cost them USD143. The sum repayable over two years in interest-free installments. They also are responsible for paying a subsidized monthly service charge.


Not all the bank’s loans are interest free. Usually it charges up to 10 percent interest.


"The money the beggars will get from calls would give them an extra income – from which they will use a part to reimburse the cost of the cellphone to the bank," Barua said to Reuters.


The cellphone project would primarily target beggars in the rural areas. The bank believes its latest venture will be widely accepted.


The bank will also provide 500 taka (USD 8.41) in cash to each "cell-class" beggar so they can sell snacks, chocolates, cookies and nuts for additional income.


Earlier the bank, in one of its well publicized efforts, offered mobile phones to rural wives and mothers for commercial use. The phones not only assured them enough money to survive but enabled some to earn an equivalent of USD 300-USD 400 a month, enough to buy land and even buy vehicles and start cattle farms.


Currently, there are 75,000 women, known as "phone ladies", with Grameen mobile phones across the country.