| | |  | Microfinance | Home » » Small Loans, Big Dreams: How Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus and Microfinance are Changing the World | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | Microfinancing is considered one of the most effective strategies in the fight against global poverty. And now, in Small Loans, Big Changes, author Alex Counts reveals how Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus revolutionized global antipoverty efforts through the development of this approach. This book presents compelling stories of women benefiting from Yunus’s microcredit in rural Bangladesh and urban Chicago, and recounts the experiences of different borrowers in each country, interspersing them with stories of Yunus, his colleagues, and their counterparts in Chicago. | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Alex Counts | | Hardcover:
| 410 pages | | Publisher:
| Wiley | | Publication Date:
| April 04, 2008 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0470196327 | | Product Length:
| 9.14 inches | | Product Width:
| 6.42 inches | | Product Height:
| 1.47 inches | | Product Weight:
| 1.37 pounds | | Package Length:
| 9.1 inches | | Package Width:
| 6.2 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.6 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.35 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 11 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 11 customer reviews )
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7 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 Small Loans, Big DreamsApr 15, 2008
By Fonkoze
"Fonkoze"
Dear Friends,
I have just finished an amazing and inspiring book that I'd like to make you aware of - Small Loans, Big Dreams - by my good friend, colleague, and advisor Alex Counts, President and CEO of the Grameen Foundation. For those of you who may have read his other book - Give Us Credit - you will love catching up with some of those women from Bangladesh and from Chicago he brought alive in 1996. Women like Shandha, the "mother hen" of her credit center whose son became one of the first recipients of Grameen's high education loan and has now completed his master's degree. Or Omiyale and Queenesta, two African-American woman living in Chicago who were part of a solidarity group called Les Papillons (The Butterflies). You'll love getting caught up with how their lives have been evolving as they continue to face the obstacles and bumps in the road that the poor all over the world face.
Even if you didn't read Give Us Credit, you'll love reading about these women and their struggles now. Alex is an amazing storyteller and you quickly get caught up in their lives as they participate in microfinance programs half way around the world from each other. You see so quickly just how microfinance transforms lives, although not always in the nice, neat way we would like to see it function. Alex is nothing if not honest as he lets his subjects' stories unfold. It is fascinating to see the intertwining of the modifications the Grameen Bank and other microfinance institutions have made over time and the lives of real people as those changes affect their lives and their choices. As Alex says, ". . . their uneven but steady progress has reaffirmed my belief in microfinance, and also my desire to ensure that the model continues to improve and serve the poor better through more responsive products."
At the same time, this book is not just about these women. Rather, it is fundamentally a book about how Professor Muhammad Yunus and the microfinance movement are changing the world. Throughout the book, Alex provides his own insights into microfinance as it has evolved from the origins of the Grameen Bank to that of a broader social and business movement. After reading the book, you will understand much better why microfinance is today at a crossroads, what the divisions are about, and why Fonkoze in Haiti keeps its focus on the core business of microfinance - reducing poverty - by refining and extending the tools (whether financial, educational or health care related) that it makes available to the poor, wherever they are on their journey out of poverty. This is a big book about small loans that will help you understand the gigantic movement they have spawned. When you get the time, do pick it up and take a peek inside . . . it won't be easy to put it back down.
Enjoy!
Anne Hastings
Fonkoze Haiti
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Small Loans Fulfill Big DreamsMay 07, 2008
By Anna H. Bedford
You might not think that Chicago, U.S.A. and Chittagong, Bangladesh have much in common, but in his book, Small Loans, Big Dreams: How Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus and Microfinance Are Changing the World, Grameen Foundation Director Alex Counts shows that they do. Each region has determined women of strong spirit struggling for their family's survival. Sometimes, all it takes to set them on the path to entrepreneurship is a small bank loan and a small group of like-minded others to support them and hold them accountable.
This idea is the genius of microcredit: banking for people too impoverished to provide the required collateral for a regular bank account. After achieving remarkable success in Bangladesh, where the Grameen Bank is now sustainable, founder Muhammad Yunus turned his attention to developing the system in other countries, including U.S.A. Alex Counts strings the continuing story of Mohammad Yunus's life and work together with fascinating accounts of women in Chicago and Bangladesh, along with brief histories of the two regions. Development professionals and all good-hearted people will be challenged by the stories of government cowardice in attacking poverty and individual courage in overcoming it. Above all, the book sets forth the larger vision of the common good that is so often lost in today's global society.
--Anna H. Bedford
Little Rock, AR
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
WARNING: This Book Might Encourage You To Change The WorldOct 02, 2008
By Mitali Perkins
Alex Counts is one of those rare visionaries who also has the gift of storytelling. As you read the histories of the women in this book, you'll be captivated both by Counts' empathetic connection with them and his passion for the work of Grameen. The author is straightforward about the struggles and successes of a movement which has become one of the most powerful weapons against poverty in our time. After reading it, don't be surprised if you start chasing harder after your own big dreams.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Small Loans, Big Dreams - a must read that you won't want to put downAug 29, 2009
By Rachel S. Davis
"Rachel-Davis"
Small Loans, Big Dreams is a great read on many levels. It reads like an inspiring novel that you just don't want to put down AND it captures the history, current reality and rich potential for the future of one of the most effective programs for empowering the poor - microcredit. Put this on your must read list and be prepared not to be able to put it down until the end.
This book is perfect for people who enjoy reading about everyday heros - regular people who overcome personal and social obstacles to create a better life for themselves, their families and others. It is difficult not to be touched and get a deeper appreciation for our humanity as you read the stories of the women who step out of out what is comfortable and familiar in their culture and become leaders for a new future. Reading the stories of these women creating a new future in the circumstances they have, it is hard not to be left with more courage and commitment to tackle the issues and circumstances in our personal lives and our communities. With simplicity, gradualism, faith and partnership, truly any difference can be made. This book demonstrates this.
This book is ALSO perfect for people who like to read books about real world issues. Alex shares the evolution of perhaps the most effective program of all time to combat poverty and he does it so that the reader has multiple perspectives (Muhammad Yunus's personal history/journey to empower the poorest of the poor, the current economic and social constraints that disable the poor from participating in capitalism and pulling themselves out of poverty, a glimpse of the day to day experience and dedication of the staff at the Grameen Bank and those women who use micro-finance to give themselves and their families better lives). It is useful, understandable and insightful to readers regardless of whether you consider yourself knowledgeable about economics or a complete beginner.
This book would be excellent for book clubs and discussion groups - there is something for everyone to love and so many directions that discussions could take, every reader would have much to contribute and also be left wanting to learn more. I knew nothing of economics before I read this and now I both know more and what to know more. It was interesting to see the comparisons of the programs in the US and Bangladesh and to realize in our American `land of opportunity for all' we literally have more societal and legal constraints that are actually in the way of empowering our poor to get out of poverty.
The original micro-finance programs have been able to be duplicated in many different cultures and countries, which is a testimony to the integrity and resiliency of Yunus' thinking and design and the work of many people. Alex also presents the future opportunity for real social change through the strengths of the networks and relationships. You will be left with both opportunity and optimism for our future.
 Great Story mediocre writingApr 04, 2011
By David Mitchell
The story of Muhammad Yunus is a great one. There are lots of places to read about Grameen Bank and microfinance.
This is written by the head of Grameen Foundation in the U.S. It is extremely positive but the writing is just OK. It makes an exciting idea a drag. Also it isn't clear who the book is written for. It is a bit too dense for most readers but it isn't technical enough for economists or policy makers.
Also, I didn't see of the criticism of microfinance. There are many. There have been many cases when microfinance didn't live up to the hype and some cases where it may have done harm.
Microfinance and Grameen Bank are extremely important. For someone wanting the technical aspect of microfinance I would recommend The Economics of Microfinance y Beatriz Armendáriz and Jonathan Morduch. An interested layperson could start with the New York Times articles.
Perhaps the best part is the comparison of slum Chicago with Bangladesh. Chicago doesn't look that good in comparison.
Don't misconstrue this review as an indictment of microfinance. And this book isn't horrible, I was just surprised that something so important could be dull.
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