An example of social entrepreneurship

The 10th of December, Muhammad Yunus will recieve the Nobel price for Peace for his work around the Grameen Bank.

The story in short: The Grameen Bank is a microfinance organization that makes small loans to the impoverished without requiring collateral. When Yunus was 34, there was a famine in Bangladesh. He visited the communities and gave a loan from his own pocket saying ' pay me back when you can...'. 30 years later, this micro-credit system of small loans turns out to be a succes story in poverty reduction. The system is based on the idea that the poor have skills that are under-utilized. "People always said that you can't bank with poor people. The loans are too small, making them too expensive to administer. But nobody thought that the poor could be their own bankers. Of you create an organizational system where there is a motivation to be honest, and also to be disciplined and rigorous, and you tie their access to credit, it turns out they will do a very good job."

What made him come up with the idea of giving small loans to poor people? He had very strong believes about charity and poverty which were different from the 'general' opinion. He believed that charity is not the way for helping people in need. He says (in an article in Ode) that our approach of reducing poverty is influenced by convictions. What happens when we think that poor people are helpless, unhealthy, illiterate which means dull, have nothing, know nothing, and we have to take care of them, we have to feed them, ...? We simply put them in a box which has 'POOR' on it. It is not easy to come out of such a box! According to Yunus we should treat poor people the way we would like to be treated ourselves. You should offer them the same facilities as you use, being stimulated and challenged to develop own possibilities, talents and creativity.

And this all sounds so right and normal. But do you really think this way about poor people? When you honestly look at your convictions?

Something else I found quite interesting about this article is that they describe the process of getting succes with an innovative idea. The following expression is illustrative for this: First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you - and then you win!
What is important for making an innovative idea a success?

• The power of the idea needs to be proven;
• It is worthwhile to make sure the idea can be applied by others as well;
• For innovation, start with the pioneers (focus on drive and energy);
• Critical opinion is part of the growth process of an idea;
• For a new idea to introduce to the world, you need connectors, mavens, and salesmen;
• Yunus was a very practical man - he gets things done;
• It is about timing: there was 'a need' for new approaches;

Worth reading: Van Armoede naar Vrede (in Dutch)