3c hapter - Index of
3c hapter - Index of
3c hapter - Index of
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
128 Locavesting<br />
Although Grameen’s loans are modest—typically just a few<br />
hundred dollars—they have helped millions <strong>of</strong> people, mostly<br />
women, invest in sewing machines, milk cows, or looms to start<br />
micro- enterprises. Defaults have been surprisingly low, historically<br />
ranging between 1 percent and 5 percent. Grameen’s success had<br />
a lot to do with its reliance on peer pressure, or “social collateral,”<br />
to encourage repayment. Borrowers are required to form a small<br />
group <strong>of</strong> fi ve entrepreneurs, who are each responsible if another<br />
member misses a payment. To date, the bank has made $9.4 billion<br />
in loans to 8.3 million borrowers, at interest rates <strong>of</strong> 20 percent or<br />
less. These borrowers also own 95 percent <strong>of</strong> Grameen’s shares.<br />
The need for micr<strong>of</strong>i nance is not limited to the developing<br />
world. As the recession wore on, another 4 million Americans<br />
slid into poverty in 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau,<br />
raising the number <strong>of</strong> Americans living below the poverty line to<br />
44 million, the highest in 15 years. 1 In recent years, the gap between<br />
rich and poor in the United States has widened. In the fi ve- year<br />
period from 2001 to 2006, the wealthiest 1 percent <strong>of</strong> Americans<br />
pocketed more than half <strong>of</strong> total income gains. 2 Indeed, the top<br />
1 percent owns more than a third <strong>of</strong> the country’s private wealth—<br />
more than the entire wealth owned by the bottom 90 percent. So<br />
it is no small irony that, in 2008, Grameen America opened its fi rst<br />
branches in New York and Omaha, Nebraska, the homes <strong>of</strong> Wall<br />
Street and billionaire Warren Buffet, respectively.<br />
At the opening <strong>of</strong> the Manhattan branch, Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Yunus<br />
was pointed in his remarks. “In these skyscrapers that New York<br />
built, they control world fi nance. . . . They do the banking with<br />
the world but they don’t do the banking with their neighbors. We<br />
are here to show that there is nothing wrong with doing banking<br />
with neighbors.” 3<br />
From Patronage to Pr<strong>of</strong>its<br />
Kiva brought micr<strong>of</strong>i nance to the masses by tapping the power<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Internet and appealing to people’s humanitarian instincts.<br />
From the start, Kiva’s founders sought to put a human face on<br />
their borrowers, posting photos and a story for each—whether