Morgan Stanley completes Grameen America project on fund projections

Microfinance Focus, Sept. 14, 2009: Grameen America and Morgan Stanley have announced the completion of a pro-bono advisory assignment to develop Grameen America’s financial projections and materials that prepare Grameen America to engage potential funding partners.
Morgan Stanley also provided financial modeling expertise to allow Grameen America management to estimate the organization’s capital requirements under different growth and operating performance scenarios, said a statement.
Founded in Queens, New York in January 2008, Grameen America aims to alleviate poverty by providing credit to entrepreneurs living below the poverty line in the United States. As of August 2009, Grameen America has lent over $2.4 million to over 1,000 members while expanding to other boroughs of New York City as well as to Omaha, Nebraska. With the support of their group of five peers and weekly meetings, borrowers have not only maintained a high repayment rate of 99 percent, but have also accumulated over $171,000 in savings accounts in their names. Many borrowers lacked formal credit histories, savings accounts and ATM cards before joining Grameen America.

Stephen Vogel, CEO of Grameen America, said, “We are grateful to have tapped Morgan Stanley’s deep advisory, capital markets and microfinance expertise as we pursue our twin objectives of poverty alleviation and sustainability. Morgan Stanley’s work has positioned us to proactively engage funding partners as we continue to scale up our business.”

Morgan Stanley completed the project through its Environment, Social Finance and Community Reinvestment Group, with support from the Firm’s Investment Banking Division and Microfinance Advisory Board.

“The Grameen America project provided a unique opportunity to leverage core skills of Morgan Stanley to build the capacity of a fast-growing microfinance institution,” added Audrey Choi, Managing Director and Head of Morgan Stanley’s Environment, Social Finance and Community Reinvestment Group. “Microfinance in the U.S. can have a real impact by stimulating small business development that builds individual and community wealth among low-income entrepreneurs. We look forward to watching Grameen America’s continued success and to finding new opportunities to work together.”

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