Nobel Winner Brings Promise of Small Loans

Sept. 30, 2007 — -- Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus is now bringing his belief in the revolutionary power of small loans to some of America's toughest neighborhoods.

Muhammad Yunus: Here is the most sophisticated banking in the world, in this country, but you have -- you go to any city, you see pawn shops, meaning that there is a big hole there. Some people cannot find the money, so they have to give their valuables to take some little money out of that. And you see the cash checking. It's also [a] ridiculous thing for me. It's very humiliating that I have a check, even a government check, I cannot get it cashed. ... And then payday loans. This is another big business. That means a failure of the system.

We have brought one of our experienced staff in Grameen Bank to come here. ... The way he talks to the women in Bangladesh, he'll be talking to the men, women in New York City. ... So, he'll be working in New York City just like he does it in his village in Bangladesh.

Find out more about Yunus and the program he's planning to start in New York at http://www.grameenamerica.com/