Micro-Loans Are Changing The World

Five weeks ago the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh. His idea that hatched 3 decades ago was to provide small loans to the poor. Through his Grameen Bank, the idea has now grown into a worldwide phenomena. He now joins the ranks of Martin Luther King Jr., the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, and Nelson Mandela.


"Lasting peace can not be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty, micro-credit is one such means." Yunus adds - "When we started giving out tiny loans under a system which later became known as the Grameen Bank, we never imagined that one day we would be reaching hundreds of thousands, let alone five million, borrowers."

Microcredit is the extension of small loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. It has proven to be an effective and popular measure in the ongoing struggle against poverty. Loans are usually made without collateral and can be as small as 9$.

Muhammad Yunus has shown himself to be a leader who has managed to translate visions into practical action for the benefit of millions of people, not only in Bangladesh, but also in many other countries. Loans to poor people without any financial security had appeared to be an impossible idea.

Every single individual on earth has both the potential and the right to live a decent life. Across cultures and civilizations, Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that even the poorest of the poor can work to bring about their own development.

Micro-credit has proved to be an important liberating force in societies where women in particular have to struggle against repressive social and economic conditions. Economic growth and political democracy can not achieve their full potential unless the female half of humanity participates on an equal footing with the male.

Yunus's long-term vision is to eliminate poverty in the world. That vision can not be realised by means of micro-credit alone. But Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that, in the continuing efforts to achieve it, micro-credit must play a major part.