Thousands of visitors have traveled to Bangladesh to learn from this bank, and many arrive carrying tape recorders and note pads. When they enter the office, they find no receptionist, no carpets, no elevators, and few telephones. The rooms are equipped with ceiling fans, manual typewriters, paperweights, and stacks of ledgers. Only the computer room, on the fifth floor, is air-conditioned. Here programmers monitor operations and prepare reports, which they love to fill with wild-looking graphs depicting their organization's growth.
People know the quality of our service.
Our job at head office is to make sure it doesn't deteriorate in any corner of the country. Given that Grameen's banking system is based on trust and mutual accountability, that is quite a task. To qualify for a loan, a villager must demonstrate that her family assets fall below the bank's threshold. Defaulters spoil things for everybody else, so group members choose their partners wisely. You have only to create the proper environment to support these people so that they can change their own lives.