Our recent blog post criticising Muhammad Yunus for his blanket criticism of for-profit investment in microlending has sparked a lively debate, especially in the Twittersphere. The influential @socialedge called the post “must read”. @andrewsprung called it a “pitch-perfect rebuttal to Yunus”. On the other hand, @KimberleyCanada protested “Oh pls. some respect. the man is brilliant […]
It may not have been as terrifying as Francisco Goya’s depiction of Cronus devouring his children , but the article by microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus in today’s New York Times had disturbing echoes of the story from Greek mythology of the titan who, fearing that his offspring will overthrow him, eats them instead. “In the 1970s, when I began working here […]
The mere thought that the Grameen Bank might be taken over by the government of Bangladesh and that Muhammad Yunus, its Nobel Peace Prize-winning founder, might be forcibly retired, is shocking. But senior people inside the world’s best-known microfinance institution fear that this may happen, perhaps quite soon. Already, senior Grameen staff have had to […]
“This is pushing microfinance in the loansharking direction,” said Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel peace prize-winning founder of Grameen Bank, in response to today’s news that SKS, an Indian microfinance institution, has gone public. ”It’s not mission drift. It’s endangering the whole mission.” We respectfully disagree. The keenly anticipated initial public offering, which aimed to raise […]