Microfinance


Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty
Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism
The Economics Of Microfinance
Due Diligence: An Impertinent Inquiry into Microfinance
Confessions of a Microfinance Heretic: How Microlending Lost Its Way and Betrayed the Poor
The International Bank of Bob: Connecting Our Worlds One $25 Kiva Loan at a Time
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World
A Billion Bootstraps: Microcredit, Barefoot Banking, and The Business Solution for Ending Poverty
Portfolios of the Poor: How the World's Poor Live on $2 a Day
The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits
Microfinance (Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Banking and Financial Institutions)
Microfinance and Its Discontents: Women in Debt in Bangladesh
The Microfinance Revolution: Sustainable Finance for the Poor
One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference
The China-America Alliance by Jack C. WestmanPathologies of Power by Paul FarmerWomen Will Save the World by Caroline A. ShearerThis Changes Everything by Naomi KleinWages of Empire by Amalia L. Cabezas
Gender and Globalization
132 books — 31 voters

Muhammad Yunus
To me, the poor are like Bonsai trees. When you plant the best seed of the tallest tree in a six-inch deep flower pot, you get a perfect replica of the tallest tree, but it is only inches tall. There is nothing wrong with the seed you planted; only the soil-base you provided was inadequate. Poor people are bonsai people. There is nothing wrong with their seeds. Only society never gave them a base to grow on.
Muhammad Yunus, Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism

This is the basis for the most important critique of microfinance. The poor are not entrepreneurs. The idea that more than a few will turn tiny loans into a viable business is simply unrealistic.
Ian Smillie, Freedom From Want: The Remarkable Success Story of BRAC, the Global Grassroots Organization That's Winning the Fight Against Poverty

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Impact Investing Welcome! This group examines the principle that finance can be used to the mutual benefit of peo…more
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