Grameen Foundation's 10th-Year Birthday Bash

Well, it is finally the home stretch of my marathon preparation. Seeing the sponsorship contributions increase every day has been encouraging – I am reasonably confident I will not let all these supporters down. My wife is gearing up to write her checks to Fonkoze, Project Enterprise and Grameen Foundation – perhaps at a ceremony in the GF offices the week after the marathon.

Last week was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to celebrate the power of microfinance in what turned out to be a Grameen “family reunion” as well. It all began with a “Knowledge Sharing Roundtable,” held last week in New York. Every year, Grameen Foundation recognizes the best and brightest leaders in microfinance with awards. The roundtable is a time for the winners to answer questions. This year’s winners, Grameen Koota from India and ACSI from Ethiopia, shared their journeys and insights with some of GF’s most generous supporters and most active volunteers. It was a stimulating dialogue facilitated brilliantly by Paul Maritz, who was elected our fourth Grameen Foundation Board Chair two days later, succeeding Susan Davis.

That was followed by a luncheon celebrating Grameen Foundation’s 10th anniversary where we honored those two organizations, plus Sam Daley-Harris, the founder of RESULTS and the Microcredit Summit Campaign (not to mention one of my personal heroes), who received the inaugural “Susan M. Davis Lifetime Achievement Award.” Professor Yunus, the founder of the Grameen Bank and a founding board member of Grameen Foundation, spoke at the luncheon, acknowledging Grameen Foundation, Project Enterprise (which was also celebrating its 10th anniversary), Grameen Koota, ACSI and Sam. It was the one year anniversary of the announcement of his selection as the Nobel Peace Prize honoree, and he talked about how progress had accelerated in so many ways in the last twelve months. The final event of that day was the first Grameen Foundation/Sing for Hope concert, at which superb singers including Monica Yunus, Dr. Yunus’ daughter, performed and we were able to raise more than $225,000 for educational scholarships in Bangladesh under the leadership of my colleague Tania Ashraf.

The next day was our Board meeting, where we were looking forward rather than backwards, charting our impact on the menace of global poverty during our second decade. The discussions were complex and inspiring, and will give me much to reflect on as I travel 26.2 miles this coming Sunday in Detroit. Right now, I am on my way to Dallas and then New York for galas being organized by the Chiapas Project, which was founded by Lucy Billingsley to raise money for Grameen Foundation’s work in Latin America, and Project Enterprise. Both events are in their third years and based on past experience, will be testaments to the power of concerned people in privileged societies coming to together to advance the cause of self-help empowerment through microfinance.