| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.com
After earning a Ph.D. in economics at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Yunus returned to Bangladesh to settle into a life as a professor. But a famine in 1974 ravaged the country, leading Dr. Yunus to alter his thinking and his life profoundly: "What good were all my complex theories when people were dying of starvation on the sidewalks and porches across from my lecture hall?.... Nothing in the economic theories I taught reflected the life around me." Armed with little more than a lofty dream to end the suffering around him, he started an experimental microcredit enterprise in 1977; by 1983 the Grameen Bank was officially formed.
The idea behind the Grameen Bank is ingeniously simple: extend credit to poor people and they will help themselves. This concept strikes at the root of poverty by specifically targeting the poorest of the poor, providing small loans (usually less than $300) to those unable to obtain credit from traditional banks. At Grameen, loans are administered to groups of five people, with only two receiving their money up front. As soon as these two make a few regular payments, loans are gradually extended to the rest of the group. In this way, the program builds a sense of community as well as individual self-reliance. Most of the Grameen Bank's loans are to women, and since its inception, there has been an astonishing loan repayment rate of over 98 percent.
Banker to the Poor is an inspiring memoir of the birth of microcredit, written in a conversational tone that makes it both moving and enjoyable to read. The Grameen Bank is now a $2.5 billion banking enterprise in Bangladesh, while the microcredit model has spread to over 50 countries worldwide, from the U.S. to Papua New Guinea, Norway to Nepal. Ever optimistic, Yunus travels the globe spreading the belief that poverty can be eliminated: "...the poor, once economically empowered, are the most determined fighters in the battle to solve the population problem; end illiteracy; and live healthier, better lives. When policy makers finally realize that the poor are their partners, rather than bystanders or enemies, we will progress much faster that we do today." Dr. Yunus's efforts prove that hope is a global currency. --Shawn Carkonen --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting but written in 1998,
By Gaius Baltar (Durham UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Banker to the Poor: The Story of the Grameen Bank (Paperback)
The Grameen banking is a simple but awesomely powerful concept. As described here in detail, it appears to be an answer to alleviating poverty in a wide number of circumstances. The author and founder, Muhammad Yunus has a fascinating life story both in setting up Grameen and its enterprises, and in his personal and professional life (the section on setting up a government in exile for Bangladesh whilst an academic in Nashville is very well told with the level of passion that marks all he writes). The pen pictures of typical Grameen customers are truly involving, and really illustrate how the concept works in simple human terms.There is however a problem with this book. It was written in 1997 and published in 1998. It says inside that it was reissued as a paperback in 2003, and the cover of this edition flags the Nobel Prize award in 2006, so this isnt old stock still being sold. There is nothing inside the book more recent than financial forecasts for 1998. As well as reviewing the history of Grameen, the book also has short chapters on Grameen's entry in mobile phones and Internet provision. Just think how the world has changed in these fields since then. So time for a new revised edition...
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
more stars, please - around 20?,
By Mrs. H. M. Rees "where Mary Poppins meets Att... (downwind of Bournville) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Banker to the Poor: Micro-lending and the Battle Against World Poverty (Paperback)
What can you say about a man who has changed the world for over 2 million people? Not single-handedly, because his bank had 12,000 employees when he wrote this book, and there are other banks now, that follow the same model - but he was the one who started it all.If you've ever noticed that your bank only wants to give you money if you don't need it - here's how the other kind of bank would look. He's an egalitarian Muslim, and he does his best thinking with the T.V. on. I've been waiting a long time for a super-hero with respect for the idiot box. This is a really hopeful book. It doesn't have all the answers, but it has a bunch of fascinating questions to take down the pub with you. Read it, lend it, review it - stick a bookcrossing label in it and give it to your bank manager. Swap it for a Big Issue, mail it to your MP. What are you waiting for?
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More stars, please - around 20?,
By Mrs. H. M. Rees "where Mary Poppins meets Att... (downwind of Bournville) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Banker to the Poor: The Story of the Grameen Bank (Paperback)
What can you say about a man who has changed the world for over 2 million people? Not single-handedly, because his bank had 12,000 employees when he wrote this book, and there are other banks now, that follow the same model - but he was the one who started it all.If you've ever noticed that your bank only wants to give you money if you don't need it - here's how the other kind of bank would look. He's an egalitarian Muslim, and he does his best thinking with the T.V. on. I've been waiting a long time for a super-hero with respect for the idiot box. This is a really hopeful book. It doesn't have all the answers, but it has a bunch of fascinating questions to take down the pub with you. Read it, lend it, review it - stick a bookcrossing label in it and give it to your bank manager. Swap it for a Big Issue, mail it to your MP. What are you waiting for?
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
