Empowering women entrepreneurs in ultra-poor marketplaces

Social banking has emerged as a feasible alternative suited to address persistent poverty by empowering women in ultra-poor settings through social entrepreneurship. It focuses on the social, environmental, and economic outcomes that stem from the establishment and maintenance of long-term relationships with social entrepreneurs (Bloom and Chatterji 2009). While traditional banks face significant difficulty in serving the poor, social ones provide ultra-poor women with access to finance that is crucial to escaping poverty. This article studied Grameen Bank, which is one of the largest social banks in the world, with more than 10.22 million customers from 81.678 rural villages in Bangladesh. Since October 2022, the bank has distributed around US$ 35,350.14 million to its poor customers, 97.25% of whom are women. As a pioneer of micro-credit programmes in the world, the Grameen Bank as a social bank has empowered millions of vulnerable women in Bangladesh, and its business model is currently operating in 50 countries across the world with transformative social impact (Rangan & Gregg 2019).