Grameen Healthcare Trust yesterday went into a joint venture agreement with Uniqlo Social Business Bangladesh Ltd, the social business division of Japan’s leading clothing retailer Uniqlo.
The venture aims to establish a new social business in the field of ‘functional clothing’, with a focus on healthcare, for the poor in Bangladesh, said a statement.
Professor Muhammad Yunus, chairman of Grameen Healthcare, and Yukihiro Nitta, managing director of Uniqlo Social Business Bangladesh, signed the deal at the Grameen headquarters in Dhaka.
The company will be named Grameen Uniqlo, in line with a memorandum of understanding signed with the Yunus Centre in July this year.
The company, a social business, will return the principal amount to the investors, but nothing beyond that.
Grameen Uniqlo is currently conducting test marketing in Tangail and Gazipur.
The objective of the venture is to improve people’s daily lives by offering high-quality products at affordable prices, which can help alleviate health and sanitation problems and provide educational opportunities for the poor.
“We are delighted to partner with Uniqlo to create a social business in clothing. This will start with functional clothing distribution and reusable sanitary napkins, but we hope to expand our services in future,” said Yunus.
Grameen Healthcare Trust is a non-profit organisation established under Trust Act of Bangladesh to provide healthcare services to low-income group in the rural areas.
Uniqlo is a subsidiary of Fast Retailing Co, a Japanese retail renowned for its strategic focus on innovation in production, quality control and distribution.
