Another side benefit of microfinance (which I’ll write more about in the next post in this series) is the social support from lending groups. As we’ve sat in on these lending group meetings and women share their stories, we’ve also realized that many of them never had a supportive peer group outside their immediate family. So while the investment is in the individual, those individuals benefit greatly from the support of their peers – this helps in sharing information about business, children, education and more. It’s a pretty interesting phenomenon.

However, the focus should always remain on the individual, ‘investing in people’ as you stated. It is the individuals themselves who, once given the tools needed to help them create a better life (not merely helping them to maintain their current state), are able to foster a strong community. And then the stronger community helps create a stronger city, a stronger region and so on. I know I’m just repeated what you said, but I really believe in that core idea.

While I truthfully don’t know as much about micro-finance as I would like (now I know a little more, thank you!), the fact that it focuses on one person at a time, no matter how remote or how disconnected their community may appear to others, has always felt right to me.

People don’y need handouts, they need a handup and that is the problem not only in developing countries faced with poverty but also in the developed world.

I am lucky to be in Scotland which is a hotbed of social enterpreneurism ….. Yunis is just setting up a microfinance project: Grameen Glasgow so should be interested to see how that model works here.

Its great way to travel and broaden your horizons: social enterprise and travel: my two passions!

Do drop me a line if you’re up in Scotland. Am starting my social enterprise helping match students to social enterprises (called SiSE)

Best
Kash aka @budgettraveller (twitter)