Letter from the President and Chairman of the Board

Some of the most resourceful and enterprising people we know live far away from Wall Street – and even Main Street. Their work goes largely unnoticed but the impact of their efforts can determine the future of countless families and communities.

We’ve met mothers, with babies strapped on to their backs, selling tortillas at the side of the road, farmers tending to tiny farms in remote villages and women selling airtime for mobile phones out of their shops. Their stories are powerful reminders that we all have an innate desire to improve our lives.

This past fiscal year (April 2012-March 2013) marked two key milestones for us: Grameen Foundation’s 15th anniversary and the 10th anniversary of our work in the Middle East and North Africa, through Grameen-Jameel Microfinance Limited.

Grameen Foundation was founded to enable the poor to leverage their strengths. We believe that all of us – even the poorest among us – can reach our full potential if given access to the right tools. Building on our initial focus on microfinance and technology, we now work with a wide range of organizations to develop services and tools that meet the specific needs of the poor and the institutions that serve them.

For example, we are increasingly combining financing and mobile-based data management services to help social enterprises (businesses that address social issues) expand their outreach and use data more effectively to improve their service. This is particularly beneficial to organizations working in rural areas, like Kenya-based Honey Care Africa, which works with smallholder farmers throughout rural areas of East Africa to produce and sell honey. We invested in the company through our Pioneer Fund to help it expand its wholesale and retail distribution. It also uses TaroWorks™, our suite of mobile data tools, to monitor and track beehives and production targets.

Our collaborations across the international development and business sectors are also deepening our impact on poverty. Several organizations are using our Mobile Technology for Community Health (MOTECH) platform, which was originally developed with the Ghana Health Service, to advise clients on a range of health issues and to train healthcare workers via mobile phones. We have also co-sponsored the Fairtrade Access Fund with Fairtrade International and Inconfin Investment Management to provide much-needed, long-term financing to smallholder famers in developing countries, starting in Latin America. In addition, we have placed more than 1,400 skilled professionals at organizations around the world through Bankers without Borders®, our volunteer initiative.

Your shared belief in the innate potential of poor people around the world makes this possible. Thank you for your support, commitment and dedication in helping us give the poor the tools they need to improve their families’ lives and their communities.

Alex Counts, President and CEO

Robert Eichfeld, Chairman