What is microlending? In simpler terms, microlending is the lending of very small sums of money at low interest, to low-income people in urban and rural areas. It all started forty years ago, when a person named Muhammad Yunus was visiting his family and his country, Bangladesh, which had recently become an independent country. Muhammad Yunus had left his home country of East Bengal as a child with his parents in search of a better future. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, with a doctorate in economics. Muhammad Yunus is the founder of Grameen Bank, the first non-profit organization to offer microfinance services in Bangladesh and around the world (New York Times). This bank has shown the world how a little money can make a huge difference in people's lives. Currently, there are thousands of institutions around the world offering microfinance services, which sometimes suffer from setbacks and uncertainties like any other for-profit or non-profit organization. When Muhammad Yunus was in Bangladesh, he realized that Bangladeshis were living in a more precarious situation. condition than what he had imagined and read in the newspapers. Many people owed money to these ruthless and heartless village moneylenders. These people would never repay the loans because the interest rates were so high that they were trapped for life. However, he found something very inspiring, which was the fact that when he accumulated the debt of about forty people, the grand total amounted to seventy dollars. He gave people money out of his own pocket so they could pay off their debt and be set free. This was the moment when the idea of ​​creating a microfinance institution was born: Muhammad Yunus realized that... middle of paper... that's it. “Microloans Can Save Haiti: [Money and Business/Financial Office]. ” New York Times November 14, 2010, latest edition (East Coast): ProQuest National Newspapers Premier, ProQuest. Network. December 5, 2010.Richard Chacon, Globe Staff. "SMALL LOANS, BIG HOPES MICROLOANS ALLOW HAITIANS TO SEEK CREDIT: [Third Edition]. " Boston Globe 7 October 2000, ProQuest National Newspapers Premier, ProQuest. Network. December 4, 2010.David Gonzalez. “A Haitian bank takes its money to the streets.” New York Times April 17, 2001, latest edition (East Coast): ProQuest National Newspapers Premier, ProQuest. Network. December 8, 2010.FARID HOSSIN. "NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 2006 / Beating Poverty, $200 at a Time / Thousands of Bangladeshis Raised from Despair by Man's Tiny Loans: [3 STARS, Issue 0]." Houston Chronicle October 14, 2006, ProQuest National Newspapers Premier, ProQuest. Network. December 11. 2010.