Yunus opens headquarters of Grameen Koota in Bangalore
The microfinance organisation has over one million women members in India
Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus opened the new corporate headquarters of Grameen Koota (GK) in Bangalore on Saturday.
GK is one of the largest microfinance organisations in India with over one million women members in five states of the country.
The organisation began its journey in 1998 with the inspiration of professor Yunus and with initial seed funding and training from Grameen Trust, Yunus Centre said in a statement yesterday.
Grameen Koota is poised for massive expansion in its next phase to reach millions of poor women with microcredit.
The organisation is widely regarded as highest quality microfinance institution, which has maintained commitment to Yunus philosophy with its social focus and client-centred approach in its 18-year history.
Founder Vinatha M Reddy, Board Director Suresh Krishna, CEO Udaya Kumar and hundreds of Grameen Koota staff greeted the Nobel laureate at their new multistoried facility, where they shifted their head office to coincide with Yunus's visit.
He addressed a large group of newly recruited staff to set the motion of expansion in place.
Earlier in the day, K Dinesh, one of the founders of Infosys Global Development Centre, invited Yunus to visit their centre in Mysore.
Professor Yunus was given a guided tour of the 317-acre magnificent training centre where 15,000 trainees can be trained at a time.
Each batch of 15,000 new recruits goes through training for six months. They get full residential facilities on site with entertainment and sports facilities.
The complex includes one of the largest laundry facilities in India with the capability of washing 10,000 bed sheets a day. The Mysore centre is the most elaborate of 13 such Infosys Development Centres all over India.
Recently, three batches of 300 students from Bangladesh and their IT trainers were trained at the Mysore facility.
Infosys has been a key player in building a global new economy for India and has made Bangalore a global city, the officials of the centre said.
The administrators of Infosys explained to Yunus their training strategy and future global plans.