Foundation for Yunus Social Business Taiwan

On August 7^th, 2019, the Foundation for Yunus Social Business Taiwan (FYSBT) held the first Grameen Model Forum about how to apply the Grameen Bank model to suit Taiwan conditions. With Social Affairs Bureau Taichung City Government’s (SABTCG) assistance, the forum was held at Taichung Social Innovation Unit. The Director of SABTCG, Mr. Yun-Chieh Lee, said that young people should become an entrepreneur to create a Social Business to solve the social problems, which happened to coincide with the idea of Professor Yunus, “We are not job seekers but job creators.” By long-term learning from the Professor Yunus, the CEO of FYSBT, Ms. Juno Wang, said the Grameen Bank is more like an educational institution rather than a general financial institution. To apply for Grameen Bank financial assistance, people will be requested to establish a 5-people mutual aid group in order to put the 16 creeds into practice. Therefore, the critical and successful factor of putting people out of poverty is the education system but the borrowing mechanism of the Grameen Bank.

In the forum, the supervisor of Credit Union League of the Republic of China (CULROC), Mr. Khan, said, “The spirit of Credit Union League is similar to Grameen Bank model.” Besides, the project planning specialist of Ministry of Labor, Ms. Chuang, stated “Anyone who is in need, is welcomed to apply for the microloans to start a business especially women and middle-aged entrepreneurs.”

“Is there any poor in Taiwan?” That was a common question in the forum. The participants held different opinions on “relatively poor” and “absolutely poor”. However, they all agreed the underprivileged groups who need help still exist in Taiwan. Participants also mentioned about student loans, which brought out the needs of Taiwan's new poor.

The related photos as below: 
https://imgur.com/stWTZlW

https://imgur.com/ERiRnbI