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

Rating:
Summary: A Long March to a poverty-free world?
Review: Professor Muhammed Yunus, with a combination of analytical clarity and moral indignation that is too rare among economists, embarked on a personal journey to stamp out poverty back in 1976. Amazingly, from that modest beginning of a $27 mini loan, his Grameen ("of the village") Bank has now distributed the equivalent of over one billion dollars to 2 million borrowers! And their repayment rate is above 98%. Provocatively, his scathing critiques of traditional economics will mark him as an innovator who belives in a "socially-consciousness-driven private sector". Summing up, if a "Long March" of 1,000 miles begins with the first step, then reading this book will surely be happy trails for the aspiring pioneers of the new collective economy of the 21st century.

Rating:
Summary: Frank, conversational autobiography
Review: The simplicity and success of under-$100 lending turned Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Dhaka-based Grameen Bank, into a contemporary icon of hu-manitarian economics. He uses this autobiography, however, to step off the pedestal-not of his own construction-and tell his story in frank, conversational terms. "I never intended to become a moneylender. All I wanted to do was solve an immediate problem. Out of sheer frustration, I had questioned the most basic banking premise of collateral...." The question gave rise to Grameen Bank's conception of credit as a human right. Today, Grameen Bank is a multi-billion-dollar, multi-branched, international non-profit enterprise that has redefined the notion of development.

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Summary: The pioneer of microlending...
Review: The story of the Grameen bank is an excellent example of how social change initiatives can be combined with government and private industry support to acheive a greater outcome than the organization could acheive by itself. Yunus provides an excellent chronicle of his bank's formation as well as explaining its principles. Highly recommended for anyone interested in social entrepreneurship or social change. The only shortcomings are: 1) as a finance person, I would like to have read more about the operational side of the banks relative to their commercial competitors - what specific factors enabled them to be so successful (other than the broad social factors he identifies)? 2) Need more information about how these types of programs can be applied to industrialized nations such as the US.

Rating:
Summary: 10 Star Book in a 5 Star Rating System
Review: This book is beyond superb. I would rate it the best book I've read in years, in every aspect: social justice, the guy's character, the flawless writing style (seems like a ghostwriter was employed), the whole works. Rather than just blab on and on here, which I'm tempted to do, let's just say, this is SUPERB. You want to go join the organization when you're not more than a few chapters into it. America's been slow to embrace his concepts, it sounds like, but we don't have to be. Enthralling story on every level. Wow.

Rating:
Summary: Trust in the poor enough to help them.
Review: This is the story of one man who extracted himself from economic theory long enough to see poverty in human terms, to trust in human beings, to form them into self-help units, to express that "trust" in economic terms and watch the seeds of faith grow into an international garden of success. In this garden today, grow the solutions to the world's most pressing problems. Now it is up to the rest of us to harvest crop.

Rating:
Summary: Not bad
Review: This story of the beginings of the Graemen bank isn't bad. it gives a very good picture of the purpose of microcredit and it's applications in the third world.