by Glynnis Hayward

Created on: May 28, 2010   Last Updated: October 02, 2010

There is a saying that if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, but if you teach him how to fish you feed him for life.  The economist, Muhammad Yunus, understood this in 1976 when visiting an impoverished village in his native Bangladesh.  He saw the women of Jobra trying to live by making bamboo furniture, but in order to do so, they had to take out usurious loans to buy necessary materials.  With very little profit made on the products, they never repaid the debt.  He realized that if he made a loan to them without any profit for himself, they could afford to repay the smaller debt and reinvest the profit to develop their businesses.  With

microcredit of a mere $27, he afforded the women of Jobra the opportunity to make a profit of 2 cents each - micro finance that led to their increased industry.  The idea took root and for his work, thirty years later Yunus received the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with the bank he had founded, Grameen Bank (meaning Village Bank). Describing his philanthropy, he stated his belief in two kinds of business;  the first is “Me” business, about profit maximizing; the other is about “Others.”  This he calls "Social Business," which has no intention of profit but exists to benefit mankind and the planet.  He says, “If you want to help poor people, help them explore their own capability.”

A simple idea, microcredit extends small loans to very poor people, providing self-employment projects that generate income.  Recipients are then able to care for themselves and their families, escaping poverty.  Many microcredit projects make loans specifically to women - 94% of Grameen loans are to women because they are mainly responsible for the upbringing of their children and thus more likely to reinvest profit to improve their families' lot.  By helping women emerge from poverty, children - who are the future -  are also being helped.  

There are many success stories.  From Zaire, there is  Mole Motuke whose “home” with her four children was a wrecked car in Kinshasa.  She scrounged for food but disclosed to a microcredit lending institution that she could make chikwangue (manioc paste).  She trained for six months, learning marketing and production techniques, and with a loan of $100, bought materials.  Today she rents a two-bedroomed home, her children attend school, eat regularly,

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