Microfinance: The Grameen and BRAC Experience
Two of the most widely recognized microfinance institutions in the world today are both located in Bangladesh: the Grameen Bank and BRAC. The Grameen Bank was founded by Mohammed Yunus in 1976. Since then, they have loaned nearly 13 billion US Dollars to almost 4.5 trillion borrowers. In November of 2012, the bank had 8.4 million active borrowers with more […]
Microfinance and its Increasing Popularity
About a year ago, I was first introduced to the idea of microfinance through the website Kiva.org. I was fascinated by the idea and inspired by the organization. In fact, last year instead of purchasing Christmas presents for my family members, I donated $100 to the Kiva website and my family and I chose entrepreneurs […]
Microfinance: An introduction
Mrs. Rajalakshmi displays loan cards issued to borrowers enrolled in Mahasemam Trust’s Microfinance Loan Program. Chennai, India. Over the last few decades, microfinance, or microcredit, has become a popular mechanism for economic development and poverty reduction. Microcredit can be defined as “programmes that extend small loans to very poor people for self-employment projects that generate income, allowing […]