How Social Entrepreneurship Transformed 100 Million Lives, and Other Inspiring Stories from the Biggest Non Profit You’ve Never Heard Of

April 14, 2009
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Fazle Hasan Abed returned to Bangladesh in 1972 following a devastating cyclone and liberation war to launch a small disaster relief effort. His organization, BRAC, still headquartered in Bangladesh, now touches the lives of over 100 million poor people. Today it is showing women, girls and their communities, from Afghanistan to Uganda, a path to hope and prosperity.

Fazle Hasan Abed returned to Bangladesh in 1972 following a devastating cyclone and liberation war to launch a small disaster relief effort. His organization, BRAC, still headquartered in Bangladesh, now touches the lives of over 100 million poor people. Today it is showing women, girls and their communities, from Afghanistan to Uganda, a path to hope and prosperity.

Freedom from Want tells the story of how – in a country where economic crisis is far from new – a small relief initiative became a development powerhouse. It takes us from Abed’s kitchen in Bangladesh, where he experimented with a solution that would eventually save hundreds of thousands of lives from the number-one child killer, diarrhea, to the caves in Afghanistan where BRAC micro-banker Noor Islam was held by kidnappers. The book describes how painstaking trial and error led to innovative social enterprise in tens of thousands of villages and a billion dollar organization that is today 80% self-financing in Bangladesh.

Ian Smillie, who has worked in international development for 30 years, is the perfect person to tell this truly amazing story. His writing goes beyond the statistics and technicalities to bring the people, heart and lessons of BRAC alive. Smillie is donating all royalties to BRAC.

Click here to read the full press release.

Click here to order a copy of the book.

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