Synopses & Reviews
Around the globe, poverty has held too many people in its grip for too long. While microfinance — small loans to impoverished individuals — initially attracted attention in the press, it didn't achieve the scale, scope, and profitability necessary to substantially combat poverty. All that changed with Vikram Akula's creation of SKS Microfinance.
In this highly personal narrative, A Fistful of Rice, Akula reveals how he pieced together the best of both philanthropy and (to his surprise) capitalism to help millions of India's poor transition from paupers to customers to business owners.
As thoughtful as Barack Obama's personal journey in Dreams from My Father, as harrowing as Paul Farmer's battle against infectious disease in Mountains Beyond Mountains, and as gripping as Greg Mortensen's fight for education in Three Cups of Tea, Akula's story shows how traditional business principles can be brought to bear on global problems in new ways.
A Fistful of Rice offers not only inspiration but also lessons for anyone seeking to transform tenacity, creativity, and innovation into potent tools for fighting even the most seemingly intractable human burdens.
Review
"Not only for those interested in economics and business, this is for anyone looking to read an inspirational story of a person who works toward helping the poor and succeeds at truly making a difference." Library Journal
Synopsis
What Paul Farmer is to infectious disease, Vikram Akula is to poverty, and his quest has been as harrowing and heart-breaking as Farmer's. Scene by scene, Akula reveals how he pieced together the best of philanthropy and — to his own surprise — the best of capitalism to serve millions of India's poor. Akula's transformation from activist to entrepreneur to corporate executive parallels that of each SKS Microfinance "member" from pauper to customer to business woman. In creating a high-performance enterprise of true professionals, Vikram has done what other microfinancing models have failed to do, which is to achieve the scale, the scope, and the profitability necessary to sustain its efforts without ongoing fundraising. It is a remarkable entrepreneurial journey, populated by a colorful cast of characters including India's political star, Rahul Gandhi.
About the Author
Vikram Akula is the founder and chair of SKS Microfinance. In 2006, Time magazine named him one of the world's 100 most influential people. He has received several awards, including the World Economic Young Global Leader (2008), the Schwab Social Entrepreneur of the Year in India (2006), and the Ernst and Young Start-Up Entrepreneur of the Year in India (2006). He has been profiled in media ranging from CNN to the front page of the Wall Street Journal.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Am I Not Poor, Too?”
Chapter 2 Putting the Last First
Chapter 3 The Story of My Experiments with Grameen
Chapter 4 Rangoli Powder and Handfuls of Seeds
Chapter 5 The McDonalds of Microfinance
Chapter 6 Goat Economics
Chapter 7 Google Territory
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Exclusive Essay
Read an exclusive essay by Vikram Akula