What we do: Socially Responsible Investments

The stakeholders of BRAC consist mainly of millions of deprived and disenfranchised poor of Bangladesh. BRAC investments act as ‘hedges’ to BRAC to protect these stakeholders from any future ‘liquidity crunch’ in the financial industry. These BRAC investments focus on companies that are aligned with BRAC’s mission of alleviating poverty. BRAC investments are independently run organisations that are fully or partly owned by BRAC.
BRAC has invested in the following concerns:

Financial Institutions

BRAC Bank Limited, which was initiated in 2001, has institutional shareholding by BRAC, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and ShoreCap International. As a fully commercial operation, the bank focuses on small and medium enterprises, which are overlooked by commercial banks. The average loan size is USD 7,033. BRAC owns 33.51% shareholdings in BRAC Bank Limited.

Delta-BRAC Housing Finance Corporation Limited was founded in 1997 and is presently the largest specialised housing finance institution in the country. It is a pioneer in financing low-cost housing and the only financial institution in Bangladesh to receive an “AAA” credit rating. BRAC owns 20.37% shareholdings in Delta-BRAC Housing Corporation.

BRAC Afghanistan Bank is jointly owned by BRAC, IFC, ShoreCap International and Triodos Bank. BRAC maintains one branch and three sub-branches in Kabul. It is a full service commercial bank. The main focus is small business lending but also provides other credit and savings packages.

Information Technology

bracNet, in partnership with gNet and Marubeni Corporation of Japan, has its mission to bring affordable internet and data connectivity to the general population of the country. BRAC has 39.7% shareholdings in bracNet.

Documenta Ltd. is a leading software development house in Bangladesh. In addition to supplying the entire software needs of BRAC, the company provides commercial services in business application software development, digital archiving, and database driven interactive website development. BRAC has 80% shareholdings in Documenta Ltd.