Leading German Business Magnate Signs Joint Venture Agreement with Grameen to Invest In Bangladesh
Yunus Centre Press Release
Dr Michael Otto, Chairman of the Otto Group, the world’s largest mail order company, today signed an agreement with Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus to begin a joint venture in the field of textiles in Bangladesh.The Otto Group is a leading family-owned international trading and services corporation, led by Dr Otto, whose 123 major companies and 50,000 employees in 20 countries do business in a worldwide network. The Otto Group is the largest mail order company in the world and second only to Amazon to have the largest online marketing in the world.
The Otto Group will invest in a joint venture business with Grameen Trust in Bangladesh. Grameen and the Otto Group will jointly set up the Grameen Otto Trust and the Grameen Otto Textile Company. The Grameen Otto Textile Company will set up a factory in Bangladesh to produce ready made garments for the international market under socially and ecologically sustainable conditions. Under the principles of social business, as developed by Professor Yunus, investors cannot receive any profit beyond recouping the actual investment.
All profits from this joint venture textile business will be used exclusively for reinvestment in the factory in order to provide modern technologies and humane working conditions. All other profits will go towards a new created foundation Grameen Otto Trust, which will undertake social programs to take care of the healthcare, nutrition, and educational needs of the factory’s employees and economically underprivileged families in the wider community. It is also the stated aim to apply the highest ecological standards in production. It will be the first social business partnership in the textile business of its kind.
The Otto Group is committed towards setting up more factories in Bangladesh, based on the success of the first factory, and also towards promoting this new social business model in countries in Africa.
This joint venture agreement was signed at the headquarters of Otto Group in Hamburg on 11 November towards the end of Professor Muhammad Yunus’ visit to several cities of Germany to attend among others the 20th Anniversary celebrations of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the Nobel Peace Laureate’s Summit, the Vision Summit and the Social Business Summit.
