Banker to the Poor

5.0—The book is a must on social entrepreneurship. Prof. Yunus is incredibly inspiring, especially for a person like me with a social science background hoping for a change (revolution, to be honest) related to the current rules of capitalism. There is a start to that change, empowering those excluded from the system. As we use our privileges to give voice to the ones who don't, the system will change and incorporate ideas from brilliant people who were excluded, intentionally or unintentionally. My favorite quotes:

“Grameen is a self-help organization. We only want to liberate the genius of individuals to create a better life for themselves. We are not an organization bent on forcing anyone to do anything they do not want”. p. 174

“The reason for this is obvious– they have no control over capital, and it is the ability to control capital which calls the tune. Profit is unashamedly biased towards capital. The poor work for the benefit of someone who controls the productive assets. Why can't the poor control any capital? Because they do not inherit any capital or credit, nor does anybody give them access to capital, because we have been made to believe that the poor are not to be trusted with credit– they are not creditworthy. But are banks people- worthy?” p. 273

“The answer is obvious. If we consider ourselves as passengers in this spaceship called earth, we will find ourselves riding in a pilotless, route- mapless, destinationless journey. If we can convince ourselves that we are actually the crew of this spaceship, and we are here to take this ship to a specific socio- economic destination, then we will continue to approach this destination, even if we make mistakes along the way or are forced to take detours. We need to know the destination– if not in a precise way, at least in a broad way. We must continue to search for the precise destination, and build up a consensus about it” p. 335

“Poverty does not belong to civilized human society. Its proper place is in a museum. That's where it will be. When schoolchildren go with their teachers and tour the poverty museums, they will be horrified to see the misery and indignity of human beings. They will blame their forefathers for tolerating this inhuman condition and for allowing it to continue for such a large part of the population until the early part of the twenty- first century”. p. 335