Do you have any questions for Muhammad Yunus!?

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Permalink Reply by Rick Hinkle on February 23, 2010 at 10:34am

Chris,

Thank you for the opportunity to make contact with Prof. Yunus. I wanted to discuss an idea with him and see if financing for product development would be available from Grameen Bank or a joint business venture. The product I have conceived would provide more control over personal finances, eliminating unreasonable bank fees which keep average and low income people from advancing their wealth. The concept is similar to microfinancing by giving people more control over their own destinies. Also, my desire is to help people understand what choices they have with their incomes, including the opportunity cost lost principle.

Rick Hinkle

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Permalink Reply by Rick Hinkle on February 26, 2010 at 11:56pm

I have another question: Would Grameen Bank be interested in helping the poor . . . college students? I was infuriated at how financial institutions targeted college students. When my children started college, they were given forms to fill out for a bank account, debit and credit cards. Soon, I was covering their overdraft charges. $30 for a missing receipt from McDonald's for a little over a dollar. Then, it was compounded several times because the next day, then the next were overdrawn by a few cents plus the overdraft charges.

I wrote the Federal Reserve a comment when the public had a chance to comment on the Fed's banking reforms. Note to others: Make sure you use spell check and correct your math, as I was surprised to find this posting on the Internet along with my address and phone number, when did a search on my name. I couldn't find it today.

Grameen Bank could target college students for responsible use of credit, teaching them, not punishing them and perhaps Grameen and micro-finance would gain much more exposure from this marketing target.

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Permalink Reply by Rick Hinkle on March 26, 2010 at 8:22pm

Chris,

Prof. Yunus’ entrepreneurial focus reminded me of an issue in the U.S. and I wondered if he could bend President Obama’s ear to consider the need to re-invigorate entrepreneurial endeavors by the common man in our economy.

President Obama could create an executive order providing entrepreneurs time to develop working products with patent-like protections. This would allow entrepreneurs to work out issues freely through incubators made up of professionals with various expertises. The incubators already exist, but I met with a group of inventors and ALL were convinced they had an idea that would be important to our lives, and ALL were convinced if they let too much information out, a larger company would snatch away their dream. In fact, patent attorneys warned, "Do not trust anybody."

There are many displaced workers scrambling to make a living and they could be our greatest resource for job development. This initiative would be available to start-up firms, only. Umbrella corporations would not be able to take advantage of this guarded time period, as they already have a going concern with resources that individuals do not have.

Our economy requires the vitality of the entrepreneurial spirit, but many of today's new inventions bear the burden of difficult technological issues to resolve. Wouldn't it be in everyone's best to provide a window of opportunity to develop new ideas and products, and jobs?

Thanks,
Rick Hinkle

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