Microfinance in the United States

Hi Friends! Last summer I wrote a paper on the state of Microfinance in the US. I have used statistics and success stories from India and a little bit of Bangladesh, where Microfinance has been a huge success in reducing poverty. The success of Microfinance especially in Bangladesh is so phenomenal that it has moved a good percentage of population from poverty to lower middle class. The purpose of my paper was to come up with suggestions on how can we use those success stories and the successful business models in the microfinance industry in the US, where poverty has been increasing since 1990.

I would be really happy to hear your views, queries, or anything you want to say. Please read on.

The lack of demographically inclusive business models in Microfinance is one of the reasons that the problem of poverty, in the United States, has not been addressed constructively. Poverty is not a phenomenon of only developing nations. According to the US Census Bureau, 14.3% of the population or around 43 million people were in poverty in the United States as of 2009. Welfare programs such as food stamps, unemployment benefits, and cash aid have not proved to be beneficial in raising the economic standards of people in poverty. Microfinance is becoming an area of study for several academics around the world after the success of the Grameen Bank from Bangladesh and Kiva.org from the United States in improving the economic standard of people and moving them out of poverty. Microfinance has become the mantra for rural development in the third world countries and it has been seen in Bangladesh where Grameen Bank has its base. Microfinance has been recognized as “an important liberating force” and an “ever more important instrument in the struggle against poverty in not only the Indian subcontinent such as Bangladesh, India, and several African countries but also in the developed world such as the United States.” Successful business models of micro-credit programs can be applied in the United States that would aid in bringing people get out of poverty, similar to what was done in the developing world. Micro-credit has been proved to be the best tool to date to assist developing entrepreneurs around the world to enable them rise out of poverty into self-sustainable business.

Why Everything is BIG in America?????

Friends, We all have been saying for a long time that “Size does matter” but have we over-stated the definition of size?

“Why everything is BIG in America” be it cars, SUVs, food items, fast food meals, houses and of course people. I am from a country where more than quarter of the population lives under poverty. They don’t even earn a Dollar a day and still there are people around the world who say that they are not satisfied with the size of products they are getting. We can relate the effect of all the BIG things to Global Warming either directly or indirectly.

In America, bigness is a reflection or expression of narcissism, the exaggerated tendency towards grandiosity. The narcissism has led to unreality – to the feeling that somehow Americans are entitled to be number one among the nations of the world at the expense of mankind.

I am not here to blame anyone or any country for wrong doings for affecting the eco-system on Earth but it’s an eye opener for people who are un-aware of the fact that the life they are living can drastically effect the future generations.

In the words of William Ruckelshaus former EPA Administrator who said them a decade ago:

“The most significant threats to our environment now seem to lie, not with major industrial sites, but in the habits of ordinary Americans: we like to drive big powerful cars, use a lot of electricity, generate a lot of waste, enjoy cheap food, live in grassy suburbs, and collectively send pollution in massive amounts to often distant waterways and air sheds. Each one of us pollutes “when we drive our cars, fertilize and mow our yards, pour household chemicals on the ground or down the drain, and engage in myriad other common activities. Although each activity contributes minute amounts of pollutants, when aggregated across millions of individuals, the total amounts are stunning. The result is that while industrial sources continue to be a major cause of pollution, individuals are now the largest remaining source of many pollutants.”

 

The need of an hour is change in personal environmental behaviors, especially “those linked to Western cultural values such as independence, freedom, social mobility, or security”. Equally difficult is doing this in a society where messages about conservation behaviors compete with an overwhelming number of advertisements for consumptive actions that promise economic viability, status, and pleasure.

Let me know your thoughts. What do you say and feel about this? Or send me your thoughts directly to anitarora@gmail.com