Muhammed Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, has loaned over two billion dollars to three million people who have had no other money or collateral as back-up. Of course, this reverses the typical procedure of the more you have, the more you get. Ninety-four percent of the borrowers from the Grameen Bank are women. The first loan Yunus made was $27 for 42 people. Today, 21 years later, the average loan is $160.

The aim of this micro-lending program is to give hope to the poor and help them cross over the poverty line. Alex Counts, who has written Give Us Credit: How Muhammad Yunus's Micro-Lending Revolution is Empowering Women from Bangladesh to Chicago, believes that this model can be used anywhere in the world. Today more than 125 projects in more than 40 countries have started lending programs similar to the Grameen Bank. "We can create a poverty-free world provided we have the right institutions," says Yunus. The businesses created in Bangladesh have been social-consciousness-driven rather than greed-driven. And they are profitable.