The Power of Affinity Groups: Muhammad Yunus and the Women of Jobra. Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and economist, is perhaps the most famous and prototypical social entrepreneur of all time.
The Problem. He found women furniture-makers in the village of Jobra in his home country, Bangladesh to be “victimized by a very stable and miserable equilibrium in which the power and resources were in the hands of others,” leaving them in a perpetual cycle of poverty.
The Solution. He lent, out of his own pocket, to 42 women the funds they needed (the equivalent of 27 dollars) for supplies at a reasonable interest rate, predicated on their commitment to form groups of five.
The Power: Simply put, Yunus married accountability (the necessity of paying back debts) with old fashioned peer pressure inherent groups. And he did it with those with the least social status in his country: poor women.
This small experiment blossomed into Grameen Bank and the micro-finance movement we know today.
The Problem. He found women furniture-makers in the village of Jobra in his home country, Bangladesh to be “victimized by a very stable and miserable equilibrium in which the power and resources were in the hands of others,” leaving them in a perpetual cycle of poverty.
The Solution. He lent, out of his own pocket, to 42 women the funds they needed (the equivalent of 27 dollars) for supplies at a reasonable interest rate, predicated on their commitment to form groups of five.
The Power: Simply put, Yunus married accountability (the necessity of paying back debts) with old fashioned peer pressure inherent groups. And he did it with those with the least social status in his country: poor women.
This small experiment blossomed into Grameen Bank and the micro-finance movement we know today.