The concept of MICROCREDIT was pioneered in Bangladesh by an
American-educated economist named Dr. Muhammad Yunus twenty years ago. It
is based on the simple idea that anyone, including the poorest of the poor,
should have a right to credit, as long as they work and repay the loan.
Yunus fervently believes that those in financial need stay that way not
because they lack ingenuity or industriousness, but because credit systems
worldwide treat small loans as unprofitable and therefore deny loans to
those who lack collateral.
Women are particularly successful borrowers because they typically invest
their profits in bettering the education and health of the children and
family. Loan repayment rates in MICROCREDIT programs worldwide
average a stunning 97 percent to 98 percent, rates any commercial bank
would envy.
In our own and in other developed economies, rigid lending requirements
stifle entrepreneurial zeal and ignore those who would rather help
themselves than receive charity or welfare.
In developing countries,
these practices perpetuate a cycle of poverty which imprisons over 1.3
billion people worldwide. Today MICROCREDIT programs make loans to
approximately 30 million people, just a fraction of those in need.
Read on for
Mircrocredit in Action...
Text: Jennifer Potter
jchaden@speakeasy.net
