Alex Counts' journey into microfinance began more than twenty years ago when as a young college student he wrote to Muhammad Yunus asking to join his fascinating work at Grameen Bank. In his new book, Small Loans, Big Dreams, Counts, then president and CEO of Grameen Foundation, tells the story of microfinance through the eyes of both the borrowers and the leaders of microfinance in a compelling new book.
Inside front flap: The stark reality of global poverty—the poorest half of the world's population owns less than one percent of its assets, and that nearly one billion people subsist on less than $1 per day—rarely registers even a ripple in the international media. Western attempts to stem hunger and poverty are often piecemeal and ineffective, applying band-aids rather than finding permanent solutions. But Muhammad Yunus, visionary founder of the Grameen Bank, has demonstrated different and more inclusive ways of approaching the problems that confront humanity. In creating Grameen, he turned the conventional wisdom of traditional financial institutions on its head: instead of seeking out wealthy people with collateral and excluding the poor, Yunus sought out the impoverished and excluded the rich. His approach, known as microfinance, has revolutionized global antipoverty efforts.
Purchase Small Loans, Big Dreams here.
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