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Banker to the Poor

Author	Muhammad Yunus, Alan Jolis
Country	Bangladesh
Language	English
Subject(s)	Economics, Poverty
Genre(s)	Autobiography
Publisher	PublicAffairs
Publication date	2003
Media type	Paperback
Pages	342
ISBN	ISBN 1-58648-198-3
Preceded by	Banker to the Poor: The Autobiography of Muhammad Yunus, Founder of Grameen Bank

Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty^[1] is an autobiography of 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner and Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus. It details how Yunus developed the idea of Microcredit that he employed in the Grameen Bank. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Dr. Muhammad Yunus (Bengali: , pronounced ) (born June 28, 1940) is a Muslim Bangladeshi banker and economist. ... For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Face-to-face trading interactions on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor. ... A boy from an East Cipinang trash dump slum in Jakarta, Indonesia shows what he found. ... Cover of the first English edition of 1793 of Benjamin Franklins autobiography. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... Public affairs is a catch-all term that includes public policy as well as public administration, both of which are closely related to and draw upon the fields of political science as well as economics. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... “ISBN” redirects here. ... Cover of the first English edition of 1793 of Benjamin Franklins autobiography. ... Lester B. Pearson after accepting the Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish and Norwegian: Nobels fredspris) is the name of one of five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. ... The Grameen Bank (Bangla: গ্রামীণ ব্যাংক) is a microfinance organization and community development bank started in Bangladesh that makes small loans (known as microcredit) to the impoverished without requiring collateral. ... Dr. Muhammad Yunus (Bengali: , pronounced ) (born June 28, 1940) is a Muslim Bangladeshi banker and economist. ... Microcredit is the extension of very small loans (microloans) to the unemployed, to poor entrepreneurs and to others living in poverty who are not considered bankable. ...

External links

• Official website

This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Cover of the first English edition of 1793 of Benjamin Franklins autobiography. ...

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
It began with a simple $27 loan. After witnessing the cycle of poverty that kept many poor women enslaved to high-interest loan sharks in Bangladesh, Dr. Muhammad Yunus lent money to 42 women so they could purchase bamboo to make and sell stools. In a short time, the women were able to repay the loans while continuing to support themselves and their families. With that initial eye-opening success, the seeds of the Grameen Bank, and the concept of microcredit, were planted.

After earning a Ph.D. in economics at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Yunus returned to Bangladesh to settle into a life as a professor. But a famine in 1974 ravaged the country, leading Dr. Yunus to alter his thinking and his life profoundly: "What good were all my complex theories when people were dying of starvation on the sidewalks and porches across from my lecture hall?.... Nothing in the economic theories I taught reflected the life around me." Armed with little more than a lofty dream to end the suffering around him, he started an experimental microcredit enterprise in 1977; by 1983 the Grameen Bank was officially formed.

The idea behind the Grameen Bank is ingeniously simple: extend credit to poor people and they will help themselves. This concept strikes at the root of poverty by specifically targeting the poorest of the poor, providing small loans (usually less than $300) to those unable to obtain credit from traditional banks. At Grameen, loans are administered to groups of five people, with only two receiving their money up front. As soon as these two make a few regular payments, loans are gradually extended to the rest of the group. In this way, the program builds a sense of community as well as individual self-reliance. Most of the Grameen Bank's loans are to women, and since its inception, there has been an astonishing loan repayment rate of over 98 percent.
Banker to the Poor is an inspiring memoir of the birth of microcredit, written in a conversational tone that makes it both moving and enjoyable to read. The Grameen Bank is now a $2.5 billion banking enterprise in Bangladesh, while the microcredit model has spread to over 50 countries worldwide, from the U.S. to Papua New Guinea, Norway to Nepal. Ever optimistic, Yunus travels the globe spreading the belief that poverty can be eliminated: "...the poor, once economically empowered, are the most determined fighters in the battle to solve the population problem; end illiteracy; and live healthier, better lives. When policy makers finally realize that the poor are their partners, rather than bystanders or enemies, we will progress much faster that we do today." Dr. Yunus's efforts prove that hope is a global currency. --Shawn Carkonen --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

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 peopleAmany of them womenAand 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. Definitely recommended for larger public and academic libraries.AOlga B. Wise, Compaq Computers, Austin Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.