Letters...

Involving Bangladeshis Abroad

My idea to involve Bangladeshi nationals living abroad to take part in Grameen’s effort to eliminate poverty from Bangladesh by mobilizing funds has come up with encouraging initials response. I have asked my fellow Bangladeshis to open Taka accounts of at least US$ 150 or equivalent with Grameen’s Savar Branch which is close to Dhaka. This minimum amount will be kept at least for one year and the account will not accrue any interest. They can deposit and withdraw any amount over and above this minimum amount, whenever they want. I do not expect many of them to operate more than once or twice in a year and the majority of such account holders possibly will not operate at all.

We have devised a form having account holder’s particulars, which will be sent to your office along with a bank draft of ANZ Bank. After opening an account, it would require from the bank a prompt reply to the account holder along with a statement of the account and an explanation of the operating procedure for withdrawal and deposit. Afterwards, once in six months, a regular statement,should be. We are aware there will be additional administrative costs for the bank once a large number of accounts are opened. These costs can be recouped from the interests of the operation.

We shall be sending these form to our friends in North America, Europe, Middle East, Singapore, Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries. Will it be to difficult for the bank to keep country wise accounts? We want to monitor how many accounts are opened in each of these countries at six monthly intervals. It will help to evaluate progress and to take new initiatives accordingly.