Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle against World Poverty by Muhammad Yunus

From the Publisher

Muhammad Yunus is that rare thing: a bona fide visionary. His dream is the total eradication of poverty from the world. In 1983, against the advice of banking and government officials, Yunus established Grameen, a bank devoted to providing the poorest of Bangladesh with minuscule loans. Grameen Bank, based on the belief that credit is a basic human right, not the privilege of a fortunate few, now provides over 2.5 billion dollars of micro-loans to more than two million families in rural Bangladesh. Ninety-four percent of Yunus's clients are women, and repayment rates are near 100 percent. Around the world, micro-lending programs inspired by Grameen are blossoming, with more than three hundred programs established in the United States alone.

Banker to the Poor is Muhammad Yunus's memoir of how he decided to change his life in order to help the world's poor. In it he traces the intellectual and spiritual journey that led him to fundamentally rethink the economic relationship between rich and poor, and the challenges he and his colleagues faced in founding Grameen. He also provides wise, hopeful guidance for anyone who would like to join him in "putting homelessness and destitution in a museum so that one day our children will visit it and ask how we could have allowed such a terrible thing to go on for so long." The definitive history of micro-credit direct from the man that conceived of it, Banker to the Poor is necessary and inspirational reading for anyone interested in economics, public policy, philanthropy, social history, and business.

Muhammad Yunus was born in Bangladesh and earned his Ph.D. in economics in the United States at Vanderbilt University,where he was deeply influenced by the civil rights movement. He still lives in Bangladesh, and travels widely around the world on behalf of Grameen Bank and the concept of micro-credit.

Vision Magazine

... Lays out a convincing argument from the need to nourish and better understand the 'people's economy'...A hopeful and inspiring read

Gracious Rants

An interesting story of beginning and hope . . . I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the problem of poverty . . .

Ann Hart - KLIATT

Newly appointed economics professor at Chittagong University in Bangladesh, Yunus began to feel frustrated by the abject poverty of his neighbors in contrast to the lofty economic theories he was imparting to his students. Subsequent research in the villages revealed that lack of credit was the poor people's problem. Local moneylenders also working as middlemen kept them from making a fair profit. In utter frustration one day, handing $27 to an assistant to go and make the loans, Yunus determined to do more. Working with his local bank revealed a firmly entrenched lending policy that contributed to the problem. His struggle began. Some years later Grameen Bank was granted a constitution and the legal protection of the Ministry of Finance. Yunus' book begins with a brief description of his childhood and education in Chittagong and relates how he became involved in the liberation of Bangladesh while a professor in the US. His incredible story is told in a simple, straightforward manner; no need to understand complicated economic theory to appreciate this book. It is a story of reaching out and improving the lives of poor people and proof that socially conscious-driven businesses can succeed. Grameen (meaning "rural" or "of the village") has grown to 1,190 branches working in 43,258 villages with 11,806 employees since its founding in 1983. It currently provides the same financial services that "real" banks provide. It is 93% owned by its membership with 95% of its borrowers women. Loan repayment percentage is 98.08% and it has realized a profit in all but three of its years in business. Yunus' plan for micro lending has evolved and spread into other parts of the world, including ruralArkansas under Clinton's governorship, gaining popularity among traditional banking institutions. Subject areas for this book are economics, social affairs, poverty, and women's studies. KLIATT Codes: SA-Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 1999, PublicAffairs, 273p. illus. index., Ages 15 to adult.

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 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. Definitely recommended for larger public and academic libraries.--Olga B. Wise, Compaq Computers, Austin Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

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