Page 160 - Social Enterprise A New Business Paradigm for Thailand

5.1.2 Joint Venture Partners of Grameen Bank with International Entities

As Muhammad Yunus gained global recognition and began speaking around the world, he
attracted the interest of multinational corporations eager to collaborate with Grameen Bank to
establish social businesses. These joint ventures include the following:

1) Grameen Danone Foods Ltd.
This joint venture was created with a mission to improve children’s health through the distribution
of nutritional supplements and vitamins. Grameen Bank partnered with Danone, a French food
company, to produce yogurt fortified with essential vitamins and minerals for children in rural

Bangladesh (Yunus, 2007). Each partner invested one million euros. Investors do not earn a profit
from this venture; they are only entitled to recover their initial capital.

2) Grameen Phone
Established in 1996, Grameen Phone is a joint venture between Norway’s multinational company
Telenor (62%) and Grameen Telecom (38%). At that time, Bangladesh had only one telephone per
300 people and Grameen Phone was one of four companies licensed to sell mobile phones in the
country. Initially, Grameen Bank offered loans to rural women to become “telephone ladies,”
providing phone services to villagers. As mobile phones became more widespread, these women

transitioned to offering internet registration services for companies.

3) Grameen Euglena
This company is a joint venture with Mitsuru Izumo, who had previously interned at Grameen
Bank in 1998 and committed himself to addressing malnutrition. Izumo discovered a single-celled
algae called Euglena, which contains the essential nutrients humans need to survive. He went on
to establish his own company in Japan, which became publicly listed in 2005. In 2014, he launched
a joint venture with the Grameen Krishi Foundation to produce Euglena-based cookies for
schoolchildren.

4) Grameen Intel Social Business Ltd. (GISB)
A joint venture between Grameen Trust and Intel Capital, this initiative aims to harness

information and communication technology (ICT) to reduce and eradicate poverty. GISB
partnered with eKutir Social to develop mobile applications such as Mrittika, which delivers
information on soil quality, plant nutrition, and fertilizers, while also offering soil analysis
capabilities. The company also created a wearable device for midwives, a battery-powered
wristband lasting up to 10 months that operates without internet access. This device delivers
health information, monitors air quality, and enables doctors to track and assess the status of
pregnancies remotely.

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