Further Education
Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty
by Muhammad Yunus (1999, 2003)
Bangladesh, a country the size of Florida with a population of over 120 million people, is the home of Grameen Bank, the inspiration
of economist Yunus, Bangladesh-born and U.S.-trained. Instead of spending his life as a university economics professor, Yunus
decided in the mid-1970s to develop a micro-lending program to help the poorest people of his country. Yunus based the program on
his strong belief that the very poor do not need complicated training programs to improve their economic lot. They need money, in
the form of loans. This program has empowered thousands of people “many of them women” and surprised experts in economic development
who never believed that the very poor would find the initiative and ability to repay even the smallest ($25-$500) loans. Grameen
("of the village") Bank has developed into an internationally acclaimed and replicated method for assisting the impoverished in
Malaysia, the Philippines, Nepal, and even the United States.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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