Will You Make a Difference Today?

I am a big fan of Micro Lending as a way of tackling poverty. I first became aware of this when reading Muhammad Yunus’s book Banker to the Poor, many years ago. I found this to be so inspirational and a real eyeopener about how change can occur when people are empowered.

“ By giving poor people the power to help themselves, Dr. Yunus has offered them something far more valuable than a plate of food––security in its most fundamental form.” ––Former President Jimmy Carter

In researching today I found that Yunus has written a new book: “Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism”

What if you could harness the power of the free market to solve the problems of poverty, hunger, and inequality? To some, it sounds impossible. But Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus is doing exactly that. As founder of Grameen Bank, Yunus pioneered microcredit, the innovative banking program that provides poor people––mainly women––with small loans they use to launch businesses and lift their families out of poverty. In the past thirty years, microcredit has spread to every continent and benefited over 100 million families. But Yunus remained unsatisfied. Much more could be done, he believed, if the dynamics of capitalism could be applied to humanity’s greatest challenges.
Now, in Creating a World Without Poverty, Yunus goes beyond microcredit to pioneer the idea of social business––a completely new way to use the creative vibrancy of business to tackle social problems from poverty
and pollution to inadequate health care and lack of education. This book describes how Yunus––in partnership with some of the world’s most visionary business leaders––has launched the world’s first purposely designed social businesses. From collaborating with Danone to produce affordable, nutritious yogurt for malnourished children in Bangladesh to building eyecare hospitals that will save thousands of poor people from blindness, Creating a World Without Poverty offers a glimpse of the amazing future Yunus forecasts for a planet transformed by thousands of social businesses. Yunus’s “Next Big Idea” offers a pioneering model for nothing less than a new, more humane form of capitalism.

“ Yunus’s ideas have already had a great impact on the Third World, and…hearing his appeal for a ‘poverty-free world’ from the source itself can be as stirring as that all-American myth of bootstrap success.”––The Washington Post

From Grameen Foundation

This is one book that is going on my next book buying list.

Today online we can all make a contribution to Kiva, where lives around the world are changed daily by making a $25 loan, which when repaid can be recirculated. Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Kiva is changing lives and empowering id to make a difference not only to their lives, but to the lives of their children and their families.

Today I lent to a group from Cambodia who needed just $125 more to start their new farming cooperative project, by the time I had completed this post they had the full amount of $ 1725. This will be shared by 16 people in the village.

In the past I have lent to individuals who have been working to improve their textile businesses so they can continue to pay for their children’s education. This is so important as education empowers the next generation.

What I like about Kiva is that my whole contribution goes to the project. Funds to run Kiva are raised separatel, a big plus for me.

Head over to Kiva now and support a project.

Please join me? Such a small amount makes such a big difference:)