While most approaches to poverty alleviation and addressing unemployement are linked to the discourse on economic "growth", it is observed that populations within rapidly growing economies, such as these of China and India, are not receiving any direct benefits from the same and may not for some decades to come. Since manufacturing-led economic growth takes place in urban areas, rural areas, in particular, are typically left behind. Microfinance is one approach to this problem of unevenly distributed wealth creation. Help the rural poor directly instead of waiting for the benefits of economic growth to reach them decades later.