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

Great Book

This was a wonderful and inspiring book. It makes you believe that there are answers for the world problems. It also was very captivating. I don't read much nonfiction, but plan on reading more now. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. You can¿t complain about the world¿s problem if you aren¿t making an effort to change them. Here is a man that is changing the world.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Concise, clear, powerful

Yunus writes in a concise, clear style. Read this book for the concepts and ideas - Yunus provides a wonderful overview of microcredit and its impact on thousands of the world's poorest women. Inspiring introduction to microcredit and to this modern economic genius who refused to take no for an answer.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Illuminating saga of Nobel-winning microcredit hero

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.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Compulsory reading!

This book eloquently describes the political and economic systems that keep the poor impoverished ¿ and it describes the problems encountered in solving the problem. Muhammad Yunus is an inspirational, compassionate, intelligent role model who has lived and `walked his talk¿ in every way. I think this book should be compulsory reading for every senior school student born into a privileged, first world country. The fourteen-year old who whines for more pocket money would do well to understand and respect how it is for those born less fortunate - and we may benefit from their increased social awareness.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Inspiring real life story which tells you how one can make a BIG difference once you set your mind on doing something.

There are many people who conceptualise & write theories about the problems faced by the world. But there are very few academics who actually can claim to have done somthing about it. This is truly an inspiring story of the founder of Grameen Bank, his tough childhood, evolution thru his education in East Pakistan & in the US and finally return to his roots when a fledgling new country was founded, namely Bangladesh. The description on the start of a new concept & the efforts put in by Muhammad to create a micro-credit organisation are a testimony of the fact that almost anything can be achieved if you set your mind to it. The amazing success of this concept & the Grameen imitators which have started up across the world make for very interesting reading too. Hat's off to someone who could achieve so much in his own lifetime.

A Long March to End Global Poverty?

With a rare sense of moral indignation coupled with analytical clarity, Prof. Yunus of Bangladesh set out to eradicate worldwide poverty. That was back in 1976. Starting out with a personal mini-loan of $27 to 42 impoverished villagers, his Grameen('of the village') Bank has now extended over a billion dollars of loans to 2 million borrowers, and with a repayment rate of over 98%! This stunning record has stood traditional development economists on their heads. Even more provocative, Yunus believes in the promotion of a 'socially-conscious driven private sector.' A short review of Banker to the Poor can hardly do justice to this stimulating and well-wriiten book. (Some of his pithy anecdotes & scathing crtiques of mainstream capitalist economics alone are well worth the book's list price of $24.) If the long march of ten thousand li begins with the first step, then reading this motivational life story must be happy trails for those pioneers aspiring to a new collective economy of the 21st century.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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