Many, many thousands of people in the third world have achieved economic independence through the pioneering work of internationally revered Nobel prizewinner Muhammad Yunus. As the founder of the Grameen Bank, the world's first lending institution to focus solely on providing unsecured start-up capital for the working poor, Professor Yunus has gained world-wide recognition and a slew of awards for his extraordinarily effective efforts.
Yunis' work grew from an experience in his native Bangladesh some twenty-five years ago, when, as a young professor of economics he spoke to hard-working women who manufactured bamboo furniture in their homes. They lived in an out-of-the-way village and relied on a bamboo wholesaler to provide the raw materials on consignment. As a condition of this arrangement the women were obligated to sell the completed products to the bamboo merchant at an exploitive price that limited their incomes to 2 cents per day.
Professor Yunus found that a total sum of only $27 was all that was needed for these hard-working women to purchase the raw materials from another supplier at a lower cost. This would also allow the women to sell the finished goods for a much higher price and change the dynamic of their businesses so dramatically that their incomes would increase by a thousand percent.
Armed with this information Mr Yumas approached a bank on behalf of these bamboo furniture manufacturers: No success! He approached another bank, and another and yet another with the same result and always with same reason----insufficient collateral. Not willing to take no for an answer, Professor Yumas advanced the money from his own pocket and so transformed the lives of 42 women from a small Bangladeshi village. He also started a revolution.
Importantly the newly empowered women repaid every cent, with interest, way before the loan due date.
When asked what motivated him to do it, Professor Yunis said that he felt ashamed to live in a society that couldn't, or wouldn't, provide 42 industrious, productive women with $27 to release them from lives of servitude.
Professor Yunis was so moved by the experience that he used his own money to make further unsecured micro-loans to village craftspeople. Every loan was repaid in full before the due date but still the bankers wouldn't help unless the applicants could come up with collateral.
The answer? Start your own bank, and that's exactly what Muhammed Yunis did when he founded the Gameen Bank some twenty-years ago.
He was subsequently interviewed by Stephen Covey, the author of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." Covey was so impressed with what Yunis had accomplished that he wrote a follow up book called "The Eighth Habit of Highly Successful People.' which he based on the Yunis quote "Find Your Voice and Inspire Others to Find Theirs."
Covey went on to say that "most of the world's great leaders don't get inspired by one burst of vision, but gradually develop their vision over time. The great among us sense a human need and respond to their conscience in trying to meet that need. When they meet that need they see another and meet that, and on and on. Little by little they begin to generalize this sense of need and then they start thinking of ways to institutionalize their efforts so they can be sustained.
In a subsequent interview Covey argued that most organizations still function as industrial age institutions rather than valuing the skills of employees. He also spoke about how most employees don't really know their companies' goals or haven't been told why their jobs are an irreplaceable tool in reaching those goals.
Companies often tell employees how essential teamwork is but base rewards on individual performance. And most companies still rely on individual job descriptions rather than looking for people whose skills complement the groups.
But even can backfire if workers don't have a voice in setting the goals, Covey said. "Without involvement, there is no commitment."
The Grameen Bank now lends over $500 million per annum to unsecured applicants who use the money to start or expand small family businesses. The Bank also funds low-cost housing developments and other community projects that help people at the village level.
Micro-lending has grown virally into a multi-faceted industry offering many types of non-bank loans, using an array of underwriting criteria, to those without traditional security.
Options include short-term internet loans, payday loans, no credit-check loans and other loans that can be obtained without a credit check and without collateral.
Copyright: Copyright © 2008 Robert Thornton
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