Passions That Pay

I was listening to NPR interviewing Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and last year’s Nobel Peace prize winner. He is a fascinating man who has come up with a viable and sustainable solution to poverty. There is much to write about his ideas but I was particularly interested by one facet of his plan.

Before a woman is allowed to apply for a loan(and 97% of Grameen Bank’s customers are women), she has to gather herself a loan committee of 4 friends. This loan committee acts as a mastermind group, hashing out all the fine details of her plan to make money. Once she has a solid business plan she can then apply to the bank for a microloan - a small amount of money - to start her business. Her loan committee stay close to her throughout the application process, helping her to understand all the intricacies involved. They then serve as a support and accountability group to make sure the borrower keeps taking action to realize her goals.

The Grameen Bank knows that this loan committee is integral to the success of any business venture and we can all benefit from this wisdom. So do you have your own mastermind group? Do you have a small group of peers who can help you during every stage from inception to profit? If not, I encourage you to join my Skype room so that you can find others on the same journey as you to form YOUR loan committee.

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