Inspiring, but reality is not that simple
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This is the book that made me want to know more about microfinance, I found it very inspiring and Dr Yunus became my personal hero.
I then learned more about microfinance, talked to senior microfinance experts, and even though microfinance is indeed a powerfull tool to fight poverty, it is not the panacea it sometimes claims to be.
Microfinance can have a negative impact on social fabric, increasing tensions inside communities, it can also be used by governments of developping countries as a way to privatise social welfare, typically after massive lay-offs from the private sector(why spend public money on unemployment benefits, minimum wage, let's bring microfinance instead to help the poor..).
I don't mean to sound cynical or disillusioned, my point is just that overselling microfinance and creating unrealistic expectations doesn't help microfinance, better know from the beginning that it's good but far from the perfect and ultimate solution to end world poverty.
And btw, Dr Yunus didn't invent microfinance, it existed 100 years ago already.
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Illuminating saga of Nobel-winning microcredit hero
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In 1974, while Muhammad Yunus was teaching economics in Bangladesh, the country was ravaged by famine. Increasingly uncomfortable teaching abstract theories while starving people shuffled by outside his classroom, Yunus realized his economic education was incomplete. To complete it, he went to local villages to "learn from the poor" about what they actually needed rather than what a textbook said they should have. The answer was credit, so Yunus founded a bank to provide it - Grameen Bank. The name means the "bank of the village." Today, Yunus is a Nobel Peace Price winner and Grameen Bank has extended credit to more than 2.6 million people. This down-to-earth, unsentimental autobiography recounts what inspired him, the obstacles he overcame and the ultimate success of this project, his life's work. We highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know how one person's efforts can have a huge impact.
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more stars, please - around 20?
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What can you say about a man who has changed the world for over 2 million people? Not single-handedly, because his bank had 12,000 employees when he wrote this book, and there are other banks now, that follow the same model - but he was the one who started it all. If you've ever noticed that your bank only wants to give you money if you don't need it - here's how the other kind of bank would look. He's an egalitarian Muslim, and he does his best thinking with the T.V. on. I've been waiting a long time for a super-hero with respect for the idiot box. This is a really hopeful book. It doesn't have all the answers, but it has a bunch of fascinating questions to take down the pub with you. Read it, lend it, review it - stick a bookcrossing label in it and give it to your bank manager. Swap it for a Big Issue, mail it to your MP. What are you waiting for?
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More stars, please - around 20?
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What can you say about a man who has changed the world for over 2 million people? Not single-handedly, because his bank had 12,000 employees when he wrote this book, and there are other banks now, that follow the same model - but he was the one who started it all. If you've ever noticed that your bank only wants to give you money if you don't need it - here's how the other kind of bank would look. He's an egalitarian Muslim, and he does his best thinking with the T.V. on. I've been waiting a long time for a super-hero with respect for the idiot box. This is a really hopeful book. It doesn't have all the answers, but it has a bunch of fascinating questions to take down the pub with you. Read it, lend it, review it - stick a bookcrossing label in it and give it to your bank manager. Swap it for a Big Issue, mail it to your MP. What are you waiting for?
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