Dundee Liberal Democrats welcome proposal to help more Scots establish businesses (Dundee Liberal Democrats)

Dundee Liberal Democrats <info@dundeelibdems.org.uk>

Dundee Liberal Democrats welcome proposal to help more Scots establish businesses

November 18, 2006 6:44 AM

Cllr Helen Dick, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Dundee's Strathmartine Ward

Cllr Helen Dick welcomes proposal to help more Scots establish businesses

Dundee Liberal Democrats have today (Saturday 18th November) welcomed the proposal by Scottish LibDem leader and Deputy First Minister Nicol Stephen MSP to introduce a plan for micro-finance in Scottish disadvantaged communities.

Nicol Stephen has written to Muhammad Yunus, who was responsible for Bangladesh's Nobel Prize-winning idea for small loans to help less affluent people start up businesses. Mr Stephen told senior Scottish Liberal Democrats in Edinburgh this week that tackling poverty had focused too much on redistribution through taxation. "The Grameen Bank, run by Mohammad Yunus, has proved that funding enterprise in deprived communities is one of the best ways to tackle poverty," he said.

Here in Dundee, LibDem spokesperson Cllr Helen Dick said, "This is an excellent innovative way to help all in Scotland who wish to set up in business get the chance to do so no matter what their financial circumstances. It has worked well in such diverse countries as Mexico, the United States, India and Indonesia."