Tuesday 16 December 2008

Microfinance / BRAC

I made a mental note yesterday to read up on ‘microfinance’ later today when, lo and behold, I conveniently stumbled upon this advert on my way to university earlier today (the ...’s identify parts that I have skipped):

“... Crowded into thousands of impoverished villages. Powerless and therefore poor. Poor and therefore powerless.

Where to begin?...

Start with one village. Identify the stakeholders, the believers, the leaders who could make change happen. That would be women.

First, disaster relief. Then... Then... Then microfinance, the indispensible multiplier, the key to scaling up.

Money to pay for a cow. Fresh milk and something wondrous called ‘income’. The cow became a dairy, then a milk distribution business...

Soon there was $5 billion in micro-loans, 7 million borrowers, 265,000 village organizations, 52,000 schools, 8.5 million jobs and new ventures in eight other Asian and African countries...”


(Source: ‘BRAC’ advert found in ‘The Economist’, www.brac.net)

If anyone has information or recommended reading/listening/viewing regarding microfinance/microloans, please share. Thanks.

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