Comments on: Portfolios of the poor

By: Tweets of the Week: 11/15 – 11/21 | Your formation

Tweets of the Week: 11/15 – 11/21 | Your formation — Mon, 02 May 2011 12:10:03 +0000

[...] of the Poor: “Living in Poverty Is A Whole Lot Harder Than Living with wealth.” http://bit.ly/1NsuYq # [...]

By: Johny Fisher

Johny Fisher — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:21:32 +0000

Hey i think (very unusually) that it very important to be in harmony with others to make things works. With anything. Any field of life. Especsially to earn income from home

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:00:42 +0000

Absolutely, you need to really know your local area and the needs and habits of your potential customers. Grameen worked because it was finely tuned to Bangladeshi culture. If you imported it straight into other places, it might fail – but that’s the model of banking failing. It doesn’t mean the poor can’t be trusted.

I also think that a benefits culture is a real complicating factor. Poverty in developed countries is very different!

By: Jay

Jay — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:53:02 +0000

I don’t want to sound like I’m against providing banking services to the poor, but I think it might be something that has to be done with some thought.

While researching for an essay on the role of ethics in management, I came across the case of an Australian credit union that wanted to run itself in an ethical manner and be a good ‘corporate citizen’ in the community.

However, it operated in a poor community where most people received welfare payments from the government. Essentially the credit union ended up acting as a clearing house for its members, many of whom would withdraw their welfare payments for regular spending. The credit union was eventually opted to be acquired by a bank, as it was not running according to its founding principles and struggled to attract ethical savers in the low-income community.