FIGURE 8.29 Microcredit for small-scale entrepreneurs. Kushum and her family from Morgapara, Bangladesh, have participated in a local “peer lending” group of the Grameen Bank‘s microcredit program for 16 years. She makes fishing nets at the rate of about two per day and sells them in local markets. Kushum‘s first loan was for 3000 Taka ($38), which she paid back within a year, and her current yearly loan is for 37,000 Taka ($478). Following a model established in 1974 by Bangladeshi economist Mohammad Yunus, Kushum‘s peer lending group gathers weekly to discuss business and pay loan installments. Courtesy Majority World/UIG/Getty Images