ANKARA, TURKEY--(MARKET WIRE)--Jul 21, 2008 -- The Turkish Grameen Microcredit Project (TGMP) announced today it has secured its 10,000th member. To celebrate this milestone, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will hand a loan check to the 10,000th member in a ceremony on Friday, July 25, 2008, at 11 a.m., at the Prime Ministry Conference Hall in Ankara. Governors of 21 cities will attend the ceremony. Following this ceremony will be a lunch held by Speaker of the Parliament, Köksal Toptan, at 1:30 p.m. in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM).

Since its inception in July 2003, TGMP, a private, non-profit organization that provides loans and savings programs to Turkey's self-employed poor, has experienced impressive growth. In the past two years alone, TGMP has jumped from three branches to 25 branches, more than tripled the number of members (from 3,100 to 10,000 members), and disbursed over $33.9 million in loans, compared with $2.3 million in 2006. To date, the project maintains a 100 percent repayment rate by its more than 9,000 borrowers, all of whom are women.

Following the model of the Nobel Prize-winning Grameen Bank, a borrower must be a TGMP member to be eligible for a loan. To become a member, individuals must demonstrate a sufficient financial need following specific criteria and undergo a one-week training.

"The exponential growth of our client base reflects the strong demand for our loans and the promise for broader poverty alleviation throughout Turkey," said TGMP Co-Founder and former Member of Parliament, Professor Aziz Akgul. "Microcredit is not only focused on helping women work their way out of poverty, but also on preventing a culture of begging," he continued.

Reaching the 10,000 member mark is a major achievement in TGMP's larger plan to expand into 64 more cities by 2010 to meet the strong demand from micro entrepreneurs needing capital. To support its rapid expansion plans, TGMP endorses legislation in Parliament that would allow microfinance institutions to relend their savings deposits, to benefit more potential borrowers. TGMP has been reaching out to companies, other non-profit organizations and individuals as potential collaborators in making more funds available to micro entrepreneurs.

TGMP has 25 branches in 21 cities in Turkey: Adana, Amasya, Ankara, Aydin, Batman, Bursa, Cankiri, Corum, Diyarbakir, Erzincan, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Kayseri, Mardin, Nigde, Rize, Sivas, Tokat, Yozgat, and Zonguldak.

About TGMP

Turkish Grameen Microcredit Project (TGMP) is a private, non-profit organization whose mission is to give women microenterprise loans to help them work their way out of poverty. A partnership venture of Grameen Trust and the Turkish Foundation for Waste Reduction (TISVA), TGMP issued its first loans in July 2003 in Diyarbakir, Turkey. For more information visit http://www.tgmp.net.

TGMP is built upon the success of the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh and its founder, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, who jointly were awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.

News media are invited to cover the July 25 ceremony and lunch and to pose questions to TGMP spokespeople. For more information on microfinance, Grameen Bank, and a biography of Professor Yunus, please visit www.Grameen.com.

     Contacts:
     Turkish Grameen Microcredit Project (TGMP)
     Prof. Dr. Aziz Akgul
     Co-Founder, TGMP
     0090 312 440 88 66 (phone)
     Email Contact
      
     U.S. Contacts:
      
     Ruth R. MacQuiddy
     Grameen Trust
     Email Contact
     (Turkey): (90) 534-871-30-46
      
     Global Communicators
     Kristine Heine
     202-371-9600
     Email Contact