Banker to the Poor - An inspirational Journey

I read somewhere that humans at best utilize only 33% of their brains in their lifetime and for someone like me it would be around 0.33%. However, today was an exception with nothing better to do I picked up ' Banker to the Poor' from the library and could not put the book down till I had but finsihed reading it.

I have read several accounts of how this autobiography of Prof.Md. Yunus has inspired people to join the MF sector, but frankly could never understand the impact a single book can make on deciding people's career choices. But now I can say that I fully understand what those people meant.

The book has further reinforced my faith in microfinance. Some things that would stay with me for a long time are:


1. Start Slowly: get to know the community first, work with people win their trust spend time and your microfinnace initaive will be a success.
2. Engagement with the govt: It is important to work with and engage govt institutions (however frustating the task)
3. Never loose focus of your target group:MF services should be aimed at poorest of the poor. Poor itself is a very vague term
4. Remember Gresham's law: the poor and the rich cannot be part of the same inytervention/programme. The rich invariably would benefit at the expense of the poor

5. Providing micro finance is not a end in itself, it is a tool to acheive an end which being povert eradication

A poverty free world is possible...........