Kindness Spotlight on Muhammad Yunus
Nobel Peace Prize Recipient
If we have no peace, it is because
we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
Mother Teresa
Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi economist, university professor and entrepreneur who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance.
Yunus was born in Chittagong, East Bengal (now Bangladesh) in 1940. In 1972, after earning a Ph.D. in Economics from Vanderbilt University on a Fulbright Scholarship, he returned to Bangladesh and became head of the Economics Department at Chittigong University. He soon realized the inability of traditional economic policies to address the crushing poverty all around him.
In the early 1970s, following the war for independence, the economy of Bangladesh was in chaos, in the aftermath of severe flooding from the Bhola Cyclone. Even hardworking poor people could not get loans, because they did not have collateral, so moneylenders were the only source of financial help. With their exorbitant interest rates, thousands of people went deeper into debt and essentially became slaves to their moneylenders.
Realizing that small loans would enable people to begin businesses and support their families, Yunus tried to persuade the local bank to loan money to the poor. They would not, because poor people were not seen as credit worthy. Eventually, they allowed Yunus to guarantee all the loans to poor borrowers, and the bankers were surprised to discover that the loans were all repaid on time.
Having difficulty trying to expand to other communities, in 1976, Yunus, with the help of the finance minister of Bangladesh, created a bank dedicated to the poor. They called it Grameen Bank, “village bank” in the Bengali language.
The bank’s mission is to provide comprehensive financial services and empower the poor to realize their potential to break out of the vicious cycle of poverty.
Grameen Bank provides microcredit – small loans to poor people possessing no collateral - to help them establish creditworthiness and financial self-sufficiency. They also offer other microfinance services, including savings and checking accounts and insurance.
In 2006 Yunus and Grameen received the Nobel Prize for Peace. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said that "lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty" and that "across cultures and civilizations, Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that even the poorest of the poor can work to bring about their own development".
As of 2017, Grameen Bank had about 2,600 branches and nine million borrowers, with a repayment rate of 99.6%. 97% of the borrowers were women. The bank’s success inspired similar projects in more than 64 countries around the world, including a World Bank initiative to finance Grameen-type projects
Grameen Bank is now expanding into wealthy countries as well. As of 2017, Grameen America had 19 branches in eleven US cities. Its nearly 100,000 borrowers were all women.
Yunus has received several other national and international honours, including the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010
He has increased the impact of his work through Yunus Social Business – Global Initiatives, whose mission is to expand the social business model that he pioneered to countries throughout the developing world and to corporations globally. The primary goal is to create financially self-sustaining companies dedicated to reducing poverty. YSB has reported supporting over 2,000 social business entrepreneurs, helping to create over 74,000 higher incomes and impacting the lives of over 13 million people.
Muhammad Yunus demonstrates the power of kindness in the business world. He shows us that when we combine intention with passion and creativity, the possibilities are unlimited.
We are shining a light on him today, but he has been a bright, shining light in the world, showing us a way to create a kinder future.
Click here to see the tribute paid to him at his Nobel Peace Prize ceremony by Yusuf (Cat Stevens), singing “The Peace Train.”
I am inspired by his book, "Building Social Business - A New Kind of Capitalism that Serves Humanity's Most Pressing Needs."
Click here to learn more about:
Yunus Social Business – Global Initiatives
What are your thoughts? Please leave a comment below.
Help us spread the message of kindness.
If you know others who might appreciate these ideas, please share below.
We’re grateful that you are on this journey with us.
With love from our hearts to yours,
Pat and Larry
