Synopses & Reviews
The two former students of Grameen's visionary founder Muhammad Yunus offer a balanced perspective, with Dowla having tracked Grameen for the past two decades as an academic economist and with Barua having actively constructed Grameen II as the organization's second-in-command. They provide the definitive account of the overhaul in the design of the world's most important microfinance institution.
- Mark Schreiner, Senior Scholar, Center for Social Development, Washington University in Saint Louis
The radical transformation of its products that Grameen Bank engineered at the turn of the century has not yet received the international attention and admiration that it deserves. This timely book sets out the background to the changes and describes in detail the debates and experiments that led to the new services. It is essential reading for institutions around the world that admire or use the Grameen approach, and a contribution to microfinance literature in general.
-Stuart Rutherford, Senior Visiting Fellow, Institute for Development Policy and Management, Manchester University UK, and Chairman, SafeSave, Bangladesh
If the Grameen Bank is one of the great inventions of our time, Grameen Bank II is one of the great re-inventions. Spurred by crisis, fundamental premises were re-thought. A bank once known for delivering microcredit turned into an innovator in collecting savings. A bank once known for group lending strengthened its relationships with individual customers. We should all be grateful that two long-time insiders have told the story of a remarkable transformation.
- Jonathan Morduch, Professor of Public Policy and Economics, Wagner Graduate School, New York University, and co-author of The Economics of Microfinance.
Extremely useful for pro-poor bankers, supportive policy leaders of governments and policy-oriented academics and students to have this book on their shelves.
- Geof Wood in Enterprise Development and Microfinance
This accessible work provides considerable detail about how the bank evolved and why. Highly recommended.
- CHOICE Magazine
Nobel Prize-winning microcredit institution Grameen Bank has financially empowered the poorest families in more than a hundred countries across the globe for over three decades through savings and loans. Recently, Grameen has undergone a complete overhaul of its system, creating Grameen II and seeking to make its loan programs more effective.
The Poor Always Pay Back not only uncovers how a major financial institution is able to change its system in response to the needs of its borrowers, but also how Grameen redefined and continues to redefine the basic assumptions of credit worthiness. The immense success of Grameen Bank shows a hopeful trend in the alleviation of poverty.
Grameen Bank II is addressing the frontier issues in microfinance: open access savings, flexible loan products, self reliance and absence of donor dependency for funds, and product development to cater to the needs of the retirees (Grameen Pension Scheme) and their adult children (Higher Education Loans). The story behind these and other innovations show why Grameen has become such an inspiration to those working for social justice everywhere.
Synopsis
Nobel Prize-winning microcredit institution Grameen Bank has financially empowered the poorest families in more than a hundred countries across the globe for over three decades through savings and loans. Recently, Grameen has undergone a complete overhaul of its system, creating Grameen II and seeking to make its loan programs more effective. The Poor Always Pay Back not only uncovers how a major financial institution is able to change its system in response to the needs of its borrowers, but also how Grameen redefined and continues to redefine the basic assumptions of credit worthiness. The immense success of Grameen Bank shows a hopeful trend in the alleviation of poverty. Grameen Bank II is addressing the frontier issues in microfinance: open access savings, flexible loan products, self reliance and absence of donor dependency for funds, and product development to cater to the needs of the retirees (Grameen Pension Scheme) and their adult children (Higher Education Loans). The story behind these and other innovations show why Grameen has become such an inspiration to those working for social justice everywhere.