Finance institution Grameen Bank model has become synonymous following the pioneering work, Prof. Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh got the Nobel Peace Prize for economics. Grameen Bank is a financial institution like a bank that denial of providing collateral.
This model represents a remarkable breakthrough that can be done in overcoming the problems of poverty and unemployment in the country amid the strong currents of capitalism. Bangladesh experience with the problems of poverty, unemployment and various social deprivation actually not much different from that experience and to our society in Indonesia.
Various social problems, such as increasing the number of unemployed swelled to collide with the problem of poverty, which also seems no sign of easing. Their access to the different possibilities to improve the quality of life is very low, both for health care, educational and other welfare to obtain.
Currently there are at least about 41.7 million units in Indonesia, from large corporations to small businesses and are not included. But it seems that the comparison of large and small businesses are very lame.
According to Connecticut in 2003, the economic structure of Indonesia configuration dominated economy or business type often called the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which reached 99 percent. Unique is the number of these small and medium enterprises, 98 percent or more is about 39 million micro-scale enterprises which are largely contained.
Despite the large number of SMEs, but its role in providing added value is still relatively small. The development of the industry, for example, although the number of small businesses reached 99 percent, but his contribution in providing added value is still less than 20 percent. Thus its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) in 2001 alone registered 58.2 percent.
In the application, the Grameen Bank for the poor who have trouble accessing capital through the financial institutions that already exist. The inability of the poor in providing collateral which is the main condition affecting their banking institutions are increasingly marginalized.
Banks tend to a capitalist economic mechanisms and access to follow only those groups of people rich. Therefore there is no harm if we learn from the Grameen microfinance institutions in shaping. (*)