Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Banker to the World

I'm currently listening (gotta love audiobooks!) to Banker to the World. It is the story of Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. Not a household name, I realize, but once you start to read (or listen) to his story, you'll think he should be up there with Mother Teresa. He started a program in Bangladesh (that is now spreading around the world) that gives micro-loans to the poorest of the poor. His bank has loaned almost $6 million to over 6.5 million people since the late 1970's. Impressive and impactful, considering that almost half of the population of Bangladesh lives in poverty.

I'm far from a business guru or economics expert, yet I find myself eager to listen to the next chapter in the book on my way to school in the morning. It's amazing and inspiring to hear what can be done with such a small amount of money. I plan on researching organizations that offer microloans to find out how the McIntyre's could possible become invovled. If you're looking for something different to read this summer, I highly recommend.

3 Comments:

At July 9, 2008 at 10:01 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

is this the guy who started Grameen Bank? i think i've heard about him. amazing

 
At July 14, 2008 at 11:52 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Very Cool! I think micro loans are brilliant! Why could I have not thought of it first!?!?! Oh, I wasn't born yet, that's right...

 
At July 15, 2008 at 11:19 PM , Blogger Anna said...

I love micro loans! One of my favorite Albanian students from LCC works with a micro loan program in Tirana. Great stuff.

 

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