Addressing at the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) 2008 in Malaysia on May 19, 2008, Intel Corporation Chairman Craig Barrett announced that Intel has signed an agreement with Grameen Trust to form a new business venture dedicated to social and economic development. The Grameen-Intel joint venture aims to bring about self-sustaining solutions based on ICT to help empower the worlds impoverished citizens. The initiative, which will be launched in Bangladesh, is based on the social business model created by Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Muhammad Yunus, who founded Grameen Bank in 1976 to promote microfinancing and community development.
“Technology offers the means for scaling up our efforts toward global change and progress,” said Barrett, who also chairs the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development (UN GAID). “By creating new business models based on ICT, as Intel is doing today with Grameen, we can bring people the tools they need to improve their future.”
“I am very happy to collaborate with Intel in this new direction and create opportunities for poor people to rise above social and economic barriers,” said Yunus, also author of the best-selling book, Creating a World Without Poverty. “I believe technology-based services will provide the hand up that people need to discover their full potential. Once we show that this business model works in Bangladesh, we hope the successes we achieve there can be applied to the rest of the developing world.”
Grameen-Intel combines Intels technology innovation and Grameens extensive experience in creating economic development and income-generation opportunities at the village level. The new company will use a private sector-based approach to address social and economic problems such as poverty, healthcare and education in developing countries.
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