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Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Book review: Banker to the Poor - Muhammad Yunus
http://www.amazon.com/review/R34PIA7DTDC06H/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
Ever sat with a Nobel Prize winner? Ever had a conversation with a saint?
January 29, 2008
Reading Muhammad Yunus' book, Banker to the Poor, is as close to that as you need to open your eyes to the possibility of a world where poverty is history. This man presents his extraordinary accomplishments and contribution in such a humble, first-person, and, straightforward manner that you cannot help but be moved to think about what each of us can do to make the world we live in a better place. Truly an inspiration!
The first fifth of the book tells the story of his youth growing up in the turbulent bridging World War II, Indian independence, Pakistani independence and finally the Bengali struggle for independence from Pakistan. Yunus finds himself a U.S. educated economist back in his homeland to teach university when famine hits the country and shakes his faith in traditional economics. He seeks out to tackle understanding the problem of poverty, from the perspective of the poor rather than looking down form the Ivory Tower or down a Social Darwinist nose. What he finds is not a lack of skills, motivation and human ingenuity but rather a lack of access to capital and credit – essentially a failure of the market, rather than a failing on the part of its victims. Yunus goes about conducting an experiment, lending $27 from his own pocket to 42 villagers for various small-scale ventures and cottage industries. His efforts bear fruit and snowball from there, micro-credit is born.
The story from then on is about how he single-mindedly and judiciously builds on the early successes and incorporates a philosophy of empowerment and deferring to the skills of his staff and especially his clients. Among the poorest of the poor, Yunus finds an incredible fountainhead of innovation and motivation whereby people, if given the chance, pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
Many of Yunus' approaches break with tradition and taboo, for example, lending primarily to women, though he is Muslim and operating in a traditional rural context. Likewise, his philosophy and politics do not fit neatly in the typical Left and Right framework – he seems above the divide and willing to borrow or discover what works without regard to ideological boundaries – bearing flak from the Leftist rebels and derision from the banking establishment.
Ok, enough said – go get the book, thank me later. ¶ 10:23 PM 0 comments links to this post
Ever sat with a Nobel Prize winner? Ever had a conversation with a saint?
January 29, 2008
Reading Muhammad Yunus' book, Banker to the Poor, is as close to that as you need to open your eyes to the possibility of a world where poverty is history. This man presents his extraordinary accomplishments and contribution in such a humble, first-person, and, straightforward manner that you cannot help but be moved to think about what each of us can do to make the world we live in a better place. Truly an inspiration!
The first fifth of the book tells the story of his youth growing up in the turbulent bridging World War II, Indian independence, Pakistani independence and finally the Bengali struggle for independence from Pakistan. Yunus finds himself a U.S. educated economist back in his homeland to teach university when famine hits the country and shakes his faith in traditional economics. He seeks out to tackle understanding the problem of poverty, from the perspective of the poor rather than looking down form the Ivory Tower or down a Social Darwinist nose. What he finds is not a lack of skills, motivation and human ingenuity but rather a lack of access to capital and credit – essentially a failure of the market, rather than a failing on the part of its victims. Yunus goes about conducting an experiment, lending $27 from his own pocket to 42 villagers for various small-scale ventures and cottage industries. His efforts bear fruit and snowball from there, micro-credit is born.
The story from then on is about how he single-mindedly and judiciously builds on the early successes and incorporates a philosophy of empowerment and deferring to the skills of his staff and especially his clients. Among the poorest of the poor, Yunus finds an incredible fountainhead of innovation and motivation whereby people, if given the chance, pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
Many of Yunus' approaches break with tradition and taboo, for example, lending primarily to women, though he is Muslim and operating in a traditional rural context. Likewise, his philosophy and politics do not fit neatly in the typical Left and Right framework – he seems above the divide and willing to borrow or discover what works without regard to ideological boundaries – bearing flak from the Leftist rebels and derision from the banking establishment.
Ok, enough said – go get the book, thank me later. ¶ 10:23 PM 0 comments links to this post
