Small loans, big dreams : Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank and the microfinance revolution / Alex Counts.

Earlier versions of this book were published in 1996 by Random House under the title Give Us Credit and in 2008 by John Wiley & Sons under the title Small Loans, Big Dreams" -- t.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references.

1. Muhammad Yunus : from Vanderbilt to Chttagong
2. The birth of the Grameen Bank
3. Zianpur Bazaar
4. Les Papillons
5. Amena Begum's dream
6. Omiyale DuPart
7. The Haldar Para
8. The Maxwell Street Market
9. Krishna Das Bala
10. The Hip Hop Shop
11. Dry money in a monsoon
12. The Black on Black Love Festival
13. The sixteen decisions
14. "We're here for you
Epilogue.

Microfinance—providing affordable loans and other financial services to help the poorest people lift themselves out of poverty—was pioneered by the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. In 2006, the bank and its founder, Muhammad Yunus, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and microfinance has since gone on to serve over 100 million people—mostly women—on five continents. Small Loans, Big Dreams is an account of the origins and development of microfinance, from the $27 in loans given by a young economics professor to liberate poor villagers from loan sharks to its present status as a sometimes-controversial global phenomenon.