Have you ever wondered if you followed through with
a great idea where it might go? Well, let me tell you about one of my friends
who did just that.
Muhammad Yunus was an economics teacher in
Bangaladesh. There had been a great flood up north and, day after day, he found
people dying on his front porch. After a couple of days, he went to a small
group of people close by and asked them how much money these 42 people would
need to survive for one month.
They figured it would be $26.00. He took the
money out of his own pocket. He thought to himself, "Why am I teaching
economics when so many people don't have any money?"
The next day, he went to a couple of banks and their
responses were all the same: "We only work with people who have money, not
those who don't have any." They would not make any loans. This man began
to wonder if those who do not have any money could start with a tiny, tiny
loan. They could pay the loan back and get a larger loan. Of course, the banks
thought this was a crazy idea. So, he started the Grameen Bank.
His idea turned
into the microcredit system and today millions of women and their families are
out of poverty.
Their children can now afford to go to school.
I asked him, "But, weren't you afraid that the
women who received the microcredit would not pay back their loans?" He
smiled and said that 98% of all the loans have been paid back. Muhammad Yunus
received the Nobel Prize in 2006 for his work.
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