In many developing countries, the majority of citizens make their living through microenterprises—informal, tiny businesses that barely yield enough to survive. Without financial services, most of these entrepreneurs find growth simply impossible. Professor Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank, established in Bangladesh in 1976, stepped into the gap by providing micro-loans ($50 to $500) to the poorest of the poor entrepreneurs, through village cooperatives that are administered by the people they serve. The Grameen Bank has been amazingly successful at breaking the vicious cycle of poverty for its clients. In 2006, Prof. Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank received the Nobel Peace Prize, which sent a message to the world that we cannot have peace if billions live in abject poverty. The Prize Committee credited Prof. Yunus and Grameen Bank for showing “that even the poorest of the poor can work to bring about their own development.” Check out the Grameen Bank story on the Web at www.grameenfoundation.org. Why has the micro lending approach worked so well? Do you think it would work in poor communities in the United States? Why or why not?
In many developing countries, the majority of citizens make their living through microenterprises—informal, tiny businesses that barely yield enough to survive. Without financial services, most of these entrepreneurs find growth simply impossible. Professor Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank, established in Bangladesh in 1976, stepped into the gap by providing micro-loans ($50 to $500) to the poorest of the poor entrepreneurs, through village cooperatives that are administered by the people they serve. The Grameen Bank has been amazingly successful at breaking the vicious cycle of poverty for its clients. In 2006, Prof. Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank received the Nobel Peace Prize, which sent a message to the world that we cannot have peace if billions live in abject poverty. The Prize Committee credited Prof. Yunus and Grameen Bank for showing “that even the poorest of the poor can work to bring about their own development.”
Check out the Grameen Bank story on the Web at www.grameenfoundation.org. Why has the micro lending approach worked so well? Do you think it would work in poor communities in the United States? Why or why not?
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