It is certainly challenging how to justify the corporate tactics in the social (development) landscape, when the scale of operation demands complex engagements (especially in the developing country context).
Grameen Phone (www.grameenphone.com) of Bangladesh, excited me too much recently when I saw their brand name parading from Dhaka Airport to the poorest villages all across the country....absolutely wonderful to see combination of Corporate engagement with Grassroots objectives.
Yet, when I go deep into the labyrinth of engagement....some questions kept coming out, indicating…how the politics and power battles of Grameen with Corporate partners (Telenoor ASA) created fractures in the community hearts....!
‘Telenoor is pumping millions of Taka out of our country. This is not fare…! We are a very poor country..!’
But there is another side to the story as I visited one of the Grameen CIC (telecenter) with one of the recently recruited graduates to the Grameen Phone.
‘It is certainly a dream coming true to join Grameen Phone. Well – this is the dream I had when I was in the university…!’
Almost every young graduate of the country dreams to join the company, while their poor mothers at the rural villages are being benefited....by the mobile phones to engage in micro-enterprises!
Leave alone complex stories, is it possible to replicate the Grameen - Telenoor model....in another country context....whether policy and economic structures are much tightly fabricated...........well...probably…only the future can answer.....!
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