Micro Finance Loans : The United Nations Economic And Social Council

    Women in developing countries take out loans to start businesses and make money. Women struggling to make money take out these loans start a business to make money and pay off the debt from taking the loan. They are able to further support their family along with themselves as the debt is paid off and the business makes more money. Individuals living in poverty filled communities rely on informal employment to make money. Micro-credits have been directed more towards women because they invest money in goods and services. They do not need to depend on their husband for money when they have their own business to make money. When women take out loans to start their businesses they get stronger and get independence from their husband. When women invest in good and give services they help their family and themselves in an effective way. This could benefit women in poverty towards coming out of poverty.

Poverty is spread across the entire world devastating lives and taking others. Although this intensity of debt is often overlooked affecting all ages, races, and genders. With over 1.2 billion people in extreme poverty living under $1 a day, and millions more under the poverty line our economy continues to fall(Facts on Poverty). In result, society finds problems including government corruption, lack of technological advancement, employment loss, and unsustainable quality of life throughout the community. We must consider the creation of new charitable systems to decrease this plague throughout the world and persuade others to help out in this harsh situation. In addition, the spread of wealth will not only convince other to donate, but will

In both developing and emerging economies, microfinance has vastly and increasingly been seen as one of the most important means for enhancing the lives of the poor and therefore a major tool for economic and social development mostly in rural areas. Lately, contrary to this widespread belief, critics have raised eyebrows against this growing popularity of microfinance as a major tool for enhancing economic development. Contrary to belief, they are of the opinion that microfinance is a ‘make-belief’ that is hindering economic and social development rather than enhancing it.

The book, Microfinance and its Discontent: Women in Debt in Bangladesh written by Lamia Karim, gives us account on what causes a culture to be known as “economy of shame” status, such as in the case of Bangladesh. She writes on a subject that is a top list priority in the economical world these days, the corrupt ways NGO’s lenders do business not only in Bangladesh but across the world, however, she centralizes her views on Bangladesh and only a handful of NGO’s. Even though this was primarily a look at Bangladesh, it has resulted in capturing the attention of people across the globe not only with the NGO’s mention in the book but resulting in a closer look at all NGO’s and how they serve the people. Karim shares with the readers how the 1980’s nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) led in the way of microfinance institutions and claimed that they were providing women with an empowerment tool by issuing them loans. We find that over 80% of borrows are women and most are economically challenged already. With that being stated Karim also takes a look at how and why that is, she discusses the long term effects it is having on women and how it is furthering the exploitation of women in Bangladesh. She looked at how this type of exploitation has not only weakened further women’s economy in Bangladesh but has also strengthen the power NGO’s have over the people (mainly women) at the same time. It takes a look at this type of expansion and brands NGO’s use as a “shadow state

Many families in developing nations do not have sustainability in their lives. In her article, “Microfinance Empowering Female Entrepreneurs”, Elizabeth Matsangou writes, “starting and growing a business is virtually impossible without access to financial services.” Basically, Matsangou is saying that in order to start a business, you need help with the use of micro-loans. Further proving the point that micro-loans that empower women and women need these loans. Many women in developing countries start micro-enterprises to help raise money for their family. With this in mind, it is obvious to see what kind of positive impact micro-loans can have on women. Starting businesses are nearly impossible without the use of micro-loans, proving that they can help empower

Micro credit is the process of helping the “poorest of the poor” obtain loans. Since big time banks rarely help people who need help acquiring loans, micro credit is another source that makes it possible for the lower class to achieve that. They focus on they call the “real economy,” where they are on personal relationships with their clients. They want them to succeed and help their clients change their own life. Compared to the big banks, they are not looking to make huge amount of interest back off their loan (paper chasers).

Microfinancing produces many benefits for poverty stricken, or low- income households. One of the benefits is that it is very accessible. Banks today simply won’t extend loans to those with little to no assets, and generally don’t engage in small size loans typically associated with microfinancing. Through microfinancing small loans are produced and accessible. Microfinancing is based on the philosophy that even small amounts of credit can help end the cycle of poverty. Another benefit produced from the microfinancing initiative is that it presents opportunities, such as extending education and jobs. Families receiving microfinancing are less likely to pull their children out of school for economic reasons. As well, in relation to employment,

Muhammad Yunus, Founder of the Grameen Bank is often hailed as the architect of microfinance lending and has been praised around the world for his work and even awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 2006. The concept of microfinance is to lend small portions of money to poor people who could not have otherwise acquired a loan from a regular bank. Microfinance banks give the poor a small loan with incredibly high interest rates in the hope that the borrower will create a business or some form of income creating venture to sustain themselves and pay back their loans. Not only is that person left with a way to support themselves, but it also creates jobs in the community. These banks have noticed that when the money was lent to a family through the woman of the household, it went a longer way than if the man of the household received the loan. Yunus has noticed even within the Grameen Bank that “Poor women [have] an amazing skill, the skill of managing a scarce resource.” (12) Studies have shown that if a mother is receiving income the first beneficiaries are her children. The effects of this are amazing, many communities have seen a rise in school enrollment and improved child survival rates because women are more likely to spend money on food for their children and health care than are fathers. There is a saying, “If you give a man a fish, he will eat

Motivated by the speech of Muhummad Yunas (a Microfinancier), Jessica and her husband Matt Flannery took a trip to Africa where they discovered that small loans (between $100-$150) could significantly improve the standards of living for people in impoverished nations. They decided to find KIVA as a non-for-profit organization, as means to alleviate poverty and inspire entrepreneurs in developing African countries through crowdsourced microloan financing. Suffering general cash-flow problems since inception, KIVA was able to maintain operations by relying on friends and colleagues as an initial source of funds, and providing them with non-monetary forms of remuneration for services rendered.

In recent times we have seen the income distribution in many developed nations expand, meaning that the gap between rich and poor has grown. Coupled with this is the resultant degradation of economic and social mobility. This serves to show that they there is a tendency for those that are poor, to remain poor. There are a number of causal factors that seemingly predicate this fate of a poverty cycle. The issues that contribute to this range from the education and wellbeing of the individual, societal influences and values, their spending habits, their living conditions as well as their ability to access funding as a means of fuelling entrepreneurial endeavours.

What is microlending? In simplest terms microlending is the lending of very small amounts of money at low interest, to low income people in urban and rural areas. It started forty years ago, when a person named Muhammad Yunus was visiting his family and his country Bangladesh which had recently become an independent country. Muhammad Yunus had left his home country then –East Bengal- when he was a child with his parents in search of a better future. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, with a PhD in economics. Muhammad Yunus is the founder of Grameen Bank, the first non-profit organization to offer microfinance services in Bangladesh and in the world (New York Times). This bank showed the world on how little

Paradoxes abound in the English language; from comical ones like “jumbo shrimp” to more profound ones like “deafening silence”. But paradoxes are more than literary terms, they also exist in real situations as well. For example, one method of reducing world poverty seems to be an inherent paradox. When a country is impoverished it seems counterintuitive that one of the most desirable ways to alleviate large-scale poverty is by loaning money to the people. Despite this, microloans have improved countless economies in impoverished areas; most notably, in Africa and Southeastern Asia. Certain countries have received more attention than others and their situations have been used as models for further expansion of the micro-financial

High-efficiency technology has higher startup costs, but loans on a far smaller scale than historic stimulus packages can offset these costs. Currently, private investors fund microloans, though in the future they could come from the governments of developed nations. They are given to low-income individuals, generally have low-income rates, and are often given to those who operated small-scale industries. They range from twenty dollars to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the institution the loan comes from and its intended purpose. Microentrepreneurship is a key factor in building economies from the small scale up. Environmentally, this prevents the large-scale environmental devastation more commonly associated with large-scale industrial economic development. In the past, large loans to governments to address this need have often resulted in misuse of funds from a social and environmental perspective. Microloans assist in the purchase of drip irrigation systems and the provision of funds to train labor in low/no-till farming practices allow the advancement of farming in an ecological way. Guy Vincent focuses on sustainable development relative to individuals who are caught within the cycle of poverty, arguing that micro financing is a way of empowering the poor and reducing debt. By focusing on individuals and communities, Vincent predicts that small-scale loans will create a more sustainable future. The assistance from other nations and from centralized power is

The generation of self-employment in non-farm activities requires investment in working capital. However, at low levels of income, the accumulation of such capital may be difficult. Under such circumstances, loans, by increasing family income, can help the poor to accumulate their own capital and invest in employment-generating activities (Hossain, 1988). Commercial banks and other formal institutions fail to cater for the credit needs of smallholders, however, mainly due to their lending terms and conditions. It is generally the rules and regulations of the formal financial institutions that have created the myth that the poor are not bankable, and since they can’t afford the required collateral, they are considered uncreditworthy (Adera, 1995). Hence despite efforts to overcome the widespread lack of financial services, especially among smallholders in developing countries, and the expansion of credit in the rural areas of these countries, the majority still have only limited access to bank services to support their private initiatives (Braverman and Guasch, 1986). In the recent past, there has been an increased tendency to fund credit programmes in the developing countries aimed at small-scale enterprises. In Kenya, despite emphasis on increasing the availability of credit to small and microenterprises (SMEs), access to credit by such enterprises remains one of the major constraints they face. A 1995 survey of small and

A significant development in recent years has been the mushrooming of community-based organizations and initiatives at the local level for women. Reports indicate that self-help programmes, often in the form of savings and credit or micro credit schemes, have succeeded in changing the lives of poor women, enhancing incomes and generating positive externalities such as increased self-esteem. This paper addresses the challenging issue of whether self-help micro credit programmes are tools for empowering poor women.