Boy or Girl?

We find out today!

YAY!!! and AAA!!!

Grameen Bank

I had an assignment last week in my Accounting 200 class to research this bank online for at least 1 hour and then write a two page report about what I found out.

This bank is amazing.

Maybe you've heard of it. Last month's Ensign mentioned it in one of its articles on self-reliance. (I only knew that because Katie read that article and when I was telling her about it she said that she already knew about it. Way to go, Ensign...stealing my thunder like that...)

Anyway, so this bank was founded by a man named Muhammad Yunus who is from Bangladesh. Basically, the purpose of this bank is to give very small loans (maybe $20) to poor people who have no credit or collateral and they will pay it back with a small amount of interest ($2-3 dollars). These loans are primarily made to women (97%). He does not require any sort of written contract since most of the people he does business with can't read anyway. He works on an honor basis. To get a loan, you need to join a group of five or so people and take out a loan together. That group motivates and encourages each other to pay off the loan. If someone can't make a payment, the other members of the group usually help her to make the payment, although they are not required to do so. If someone chooses not to make any more payments, that doesn't affect anyone else in the group.

The people who take out the loans are also required to adhere to the Sixteen Decisions, which are basically rules of conduct created to socially engineer the people of Bangladesh to live a better life style. These decisions include agreeing to repair their own homes once they become damaged; sending their children to school; building and using a pit-latrine; growing vegetables year-round, eating plenty of them and selling the surplus, and much more. You can see the whole list here.

This bank is a huge success. He has one of the highest payback rates of any financial institution (over 98%), which is quite astounding since his clients have no credit and not written contract. He believes that human life and honor should be credit enough. Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his efforts to alleviate the predicament of the poorest of the poor. With these micro-loans, poor people can jump start their businesses and provide for their families. Many other banks around the world were founded that have similar policies.

What I really like about this idea is that its not some humanitarian effort and he is just donating his money to poor people. He is earning money and letting poor people help themselves. When he sees a poor person, he doesn't think of welfare; he views them as a client.

Lisa's Half-Portrait

Due to some complaints, I have re-drawn Lisa on MS Paint. The first portrait still technically counts since I basically restructured her face and look on Paint, so this drawing exists purely to quell any lasting bitterness in those who lost. Also, it was kind of fun to draw.

I would also like to say that I drew this without looking at any picture of Lisa, so I make no guarantee that it looks like her...



P.S. It looks better when you click on the picture to see it zoomed in.
I spent three hours shading the upper lip.

The Answer

Okay everyone, this is the moment you have been waiting for!

The answer to the riddle is:

...

(drum roll)

...

the man was a billionaire and after a few years he became a millionaire because he lost so much money! Ha!

So, I guess the person with the closest answer is Lisa since she said that "he was being nice and generous," so Lisa will get half of a portrait.

Here you go, Lisa. Bask in all your glory.

Hint

Sorry, no hint.
HA

Riddle

I'm taking an Accounting class and an Entrepreneur Lecture Series this semester. These classes are pretty cool, especially since they make me want to start my own business someday. In my Entrepreneur class, we have local people come in and tell us their stories of success. Almost all of them are multi-millionaires who have started some business in their basement and sold it 10 years later for millions of dollars. I think if I were to start a business, I would want to keep it and make it into a sort of family tradition. We'll see...
Anyway, thinking about these business classes made me think of this riddle. I think it was originally a Mindtrap question (best game in the WORLD, by the way . . . contrary to popular belief), but I have adapted it to make it my own. Here's the riddle:

An American man decided to start a business by buying bananas in bulk for 17 cents a pound and selling them to poor villagers in third world countries for 10 cents a pound. Interestingly, this business model made this man a millionaire in only a few short years. How is this possible?


If you want to guess the answer, leave a comment. The winner will get a realistic portrait of them drawn in MS Paint posted on my blog. What a prize!

=

A Milestone

While looking for ideas for baby names, I noticed that Bryan is ranked #78. Brian is #81.
HA! This is the first time that I have seen that Bryan isn't the "different" way to spell it. Yesssssss.

Well...it still says that "Bryan" is a form of "Brian."

FYI, "Brian" was in the Top 10 list of boy's names when Queen was really popular. (Lead guitarist = Brian May)