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October 26, 2006

3:41 pm | 0 recommendations | 1 comment

Credit For All

| posted by Fast Company staff

For Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank who just won the Nobel Peace Prize, access to credit is a human right. Providing credit to the world’s poor, Yunus believes, clashes with the profit-maximizing goal of conventional banks. However, entrepreneurs, such as eBay chairman Pierre Omidyar, are looking to transform microfinance institutions into revenue-driven businesses that raise money in the capital markets instead of depending on donations.

That conflict – between "pure do-gooders and profit-minded do-gooders" – is the focus of Connie Bruck’s article “Millions for Millions” in the latest issue of The New Yorker.

There’s nothing wrong with the desire to both help the poor and make money doing it. However, as Bruck’s article points out, the microfinance debate transcends the question of motivation and comes down to whether the core mission of microfinance institutions -- alleviating poverty -- can be distorted by the pursuit of higher profits. “The Yunus faction worries about “mission drift,” saying that, as the drive for profitability increases, only the so-called “less poor” (as opposed to the very poor) will qualify for loans,” Bruck wrote.

When Yunus started giving out credit to the poor, he didn’t discriminate between the “very poor” and those “less poor.” The bank he founded serves everyone, beggars included. And it’s essential for microfinance institutions, whether commercial or nonprofit, to make that same commitment and never default on it.

Tags: Social Responsibility, social entrepreneurship
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Recent Comments | 1 Total

October 29, 2006 at 2:53pm

Andrea Lawrence-Stuart
Ever notice how all of the generals are afraid to speak truth to power WHILE THEY ARE AT WAR and are bucking for another star, then, after retiring, when they are safely out of harm's way, i.e., Rummy’s direct line of fire, do they start bashing the war policy? If all of the generals plus the CJCS (who actually did say something to Rummy on a few occasions) would stand on their hind legs and decide they disagreed and tell Rumsfeld & Co. just that, after giving them the facts then we might make right decisions. Or are all of the commanding generals seeing through the same myopic Bush telescope--i.e., of one who isn't even over there ? Or are the generals just telling him what he wants to hear? It sure looks like it from here. Courage under fire should also mean under fire of an Administration run by an inept puppet who is power hungry, truly out of his mind, and his disease has passed on to the VP and Rummy, and Condi--and not after they are safely retired so they can blab it all over TV on CNN and MSNBC. Their responsibility is while in the field, to report the truth, not rubberstamp everything like automatons, blindly obedient to what they of all people must know are bad orders by inept commanders. They are there first hand and must know there is something wrong here. They are supposed to be telling the President the true situation and Bush claims to listen and act on what the generals tell him. But it seems Rummy is telling the generals what to tell the President. They know Bush is planning to bomb Iran. If that happens, then let's pick a US city that will be destroyed. Let's see--Washington? Miami? Seattle? San Diego (where I live)? New York? Then what next? If the generals will bravely untie their own bonds and have the guts to come out and speak truth to power, letting the president know what is REALLY happening, then we might get something done before we are all destroyed. Miller (Gitmo-ize 'em!") and Sanchez (who took over Abu Ghraib and tied Karpinski's hands by making sure she wasn't permitted in the prison on the night shift when the MPS did their dirty work per his orders, then letting Karpinski get demoted to Colonel when he himself got a fourth star) are blind followers, who are inept, themselves, and should be ousted. Abizaid speaks Arabic, he should be the Communicator, not the puppet; Pace knows (and recently exposed) Rummy for what he is, a vicious sadist)--as demonstrated on TV a couple of weeks ago: (Excerpts, only slightly paraphrased)on C-Span TV in front of millions: Pace: If any of my troops see inhumane treatment of detainees or any prisoners going on, they are obligated to stop it immediately. Rummy: I don't think you meant to put an immediate stop to it while it is occurring. Pace: Yes, sir, I meant...if they see any inhumane treatment, to stop it immediately. If that doesn't show we have a general with some cojones out there, what does? So go further, Pete, and speak truth to power, awready. Do something honorable: "Semper Fi, and screw you, Rummy...sir."
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