Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: The World of Three Zeros
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 6/28/1940
WEBSITE: http://www.muhammadyunus.org/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: Bangladeshi
@yunuscentre.org
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born June 28, 1940, in Bathua, Bangladesh; son of Hazi Dual Mia Shoudagar and Sufia Khatun.
EDUCATION:Dhaka University, B.A., 1960, M.A., 1961.; Vanderbilt University, Ph.D.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Entrepreneur, economist, banker, educator, and writer. Bureau of Economics, Bangladesh, research assistant; Chittagong University, Chittagong, Bangladesh, lecturer, beginning 1961, professor; Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, assistant professor, 1969-72; Grameen Bank, Dhaka, Bangladesh, founder, 1983-2011; cofounder of Yunus Social Business, 2011—; Glasgow Caldeonian University, Scotland, chancellor, 2012—. Member of advisory board of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh, and SNV Netherlands Development Organization; member of board of directors of United Nations Foundation; member of United Nations High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth.
AWARDS:Ramon Magsaysay Award, 1984; Independence Day Award, 1987; Aga Khan Award for Architecture, 1989; World Food Prize, 1994; Pfeffer Peace Prize, 1994; International Simon Bolivar Prize, 1996; Prince of Asturias Award, 1998; Sydney Peace Prize, 1998; Gandhi Peace Prize, 2000; member, Ashoka: Innovators for the Public Global Academy, 2001; Volvo Environment Prize, 2003; Nobel Peace Prize, 2006; Seoul Peace Prize, 2006; U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, 2009; U.S. Congressional Gold Medal, 2010.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi entrepreneur, educator, banker, economist, and writer. He is best known for founding the Grameen Bank, a financial institution that gives loans primarily to poor women. Yunus won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his efforts at the bank.
Yunus explained how his early experiences inspired him to create Grameen Bank in an interview with a writer on the Harvard Business Review website. He stated: “When I was doing my Ph.D. and then teaching, I developed a bird’s-eye view. I could see a very wide spectrum of things, almost the whole world. But I was seeing only the outline of things and filling them in, like a child coloring in a box, by making up stories about how people behave.” Yunus continued: “Then, working in the village, door-to-door, person-to-person, I got a worm’s-eye view. I saw things at very close range—all the details, what really happens inside. And that’s more important, because I could then clearly see what the problem was and try to solve it—to start with a tiny little problem, and feel energized by it.” In the same interview, Yunus commented on the importance of loaning to women. He stated: “Women used to hold less than one percent of bank loans in Bangladesh. So when I created Grameen, I wanted to make sure that half of the borrowers were women. … It took us six years to finally achieve the goal of fifty/fifty. Then we saw that the women borrowers brought so much more benefit to their families. Women want to build up something for the future with their money. Men want to spend it enjoying themselves. So we changed our policy to focus on women.” In an interview with a contributor to the PBS website, Yunus discussed the value of making loans to the poor. He stated: “Credit is very important. If you look at the world today, I would say probably two-thirds of the world population does not have access to financial services. But that’s the first thing that we should take care of. Money begets money. If you don’t have that, you wait around to be hired by somebody at the mercy of others. If you have that money in your hand, you desperately try to make the best use of it and move ahead. And that’s generating income for yourself.” Yunus added: “All human beings are very creative—full of potential, full of energy. … So, money kind of allows them to express it. … And if you’re successful, you can take more money. You can expand your capacity, reach next level of capacity, and so on.”
Banker to the Poor
Banker to the Poor: Microlending and the Battle Against World Poverty is Yunus’s autobiography. In this volume, he discusses his early career as a professor. Yunus goes on to explain how and why he founded Grameen Bank. He comments on the bank’s success and profiles women who have been helped by its small loans.
Yunus’s book received favorable reviews. Kliatt critic, Ann Hart, suggested: “His incredible story is told in a simple, straightforward manner; no need to understand complicated economic theory to appreciate this book.” Writing in Finance & Development, Paul Streeten described the volume as “a charming and often moving autobiography about how he came to be one of the most celebrated antipoverty campaigners of our era.” Streeten concluded: “It would have been interesting if Yunus had explained in greater detail the obstacles the Grameen Bank faces in expanding its work. Is it recruitment of village workers? Is it finance? Are there managerial constraints? Is there an absence of desire to expand? But this is a splendid book, which ends with a hopeful message.” Library Journal contributor, Olga B. Wise, called it “definitely recommended for larger public and academic libraries.”
Creating a World without Poverty and Building Social Business
In Creating a World without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism, Yunus discusses his own observations of poverty throughout his life. He explains how Grameen helps poor people to rise above their circumstances and tells of important partnerships with which the bank has been involved. “Infused with entrepreneurial spirit … this book is the opposite of pessimistic recitals of intractable poverty’s horrors,” remarked a writer in Publishers Weekly. Edmund A. Mennis and Gerald L. Musgrave, contributors to Business Economics, commented: “There is limited treatment in the book of ‘what could go wrong?’ Yet, the loss of even one large sponsor could set the program back for some time. Nevertheless, the presentation is provocative because the success record is impressive, and loan repayments are virtually all made. The book certainly provides business economists, and through them business management, ideas on how to make social investing work and work profitably for the sponsoring group.”
Yunus again stresses the good work done by Grameen Bank and other businesses geared toward helping the poor in Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism That Serves Humanity’s Most Pressing Needs. Referring to Yunus, Carol J. Elsen, contributor to Library Journal, suggested: “His impassioned dream of a different version of capitalistic endeavor is as inspirational as it is practical.” “In nine short, well-written chapters, Yunus provides genuine insight into global poverty and a unique perspective on the ways in which social businesses can coexist,” noted S.R. Kahn in Choice.
A World of Three Zeros
In A World of Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions, Yunus argues that social businesses can help right economic inequality and environmental problems.
“Yunus offers sound recommendations to distribute global wealth more equitably through individual and systemic support for small-scale entrepreneurship,” asserted a Publishers Weekly reviewer. A critic in Kirkus Reviews commented: “The author’s humane proposal for economic reform, far from impractical, makes for provocative reading for development specialists.” “Yunus offers a tested and realistic blueprint for how it could be achieved,” noted Fiona Capp on the Sydney Morning Herald website. Writing on the Hindustan Times website, Sudhirendar Sharma suggested: “Yunus’ intentions are noble and his approach is balanced and practical.” Sharma added: “Yunus generates excitement about the potential of turning things around but there are more questions than answers in his vision. Though the humane proposal for economic reform is far from practical, A World of Three Zeros does provide provocations for a wider engagement with development economists and specialists.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Business Economics, 2008, Edmund A. Mennis and Gerald L. Musgrave, review of Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism, p. 77.
Choice, September, 2010. S.R. Kahn, review of Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism That Serves Humanity’s Most Pressing Needs, p. 149.
Economist, December 12, 1998, “Microlending: From Tiny Acorns,” review of Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty, p. 6.
Entrepreneur, June, 1996, Debra Phillips, review of Give Us Credit: How Muhammad Yunus’s Micro-Lending Revolution Is Empowering Women from Bangladesh to Chicago, p. 210.
Finance & Development, March, 2000, Paul Streeten, review of Banker to the Poor, p. 54.
Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2017, review of A World of Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions.
Kliatt, January, 2004, Ann Hart, review of Banker to the Poor, p. 29.
Library Journal, July, 1999, Olga B. Wise, review of Banker to the Poor, p. 116; August, 2010, Carol J. Elsen, review of Building Social Business, p. 93.
Publishers Weekly, November 26, 2007, review of Creating a World Without Poverty, p. 44; August 28, 2017, review of A World of Three Zeros, p. 123.
ONLINE
Al Jazeera Online, https://www.aljazeera.com/ (December 8, 2016), David Bergman, article about author.
BBC Online, http://www.bbc.com/ (April 5, 2011), Alastair Lawson, article about author.
Economic Times Online, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ (February 4, 2018), Suman Layak, author interview.
Grameen Foundation Website, https://grameenfoundation.org/ (May 7, 2018), author profile.
Harvard Business Review Online, https://hbr.org/ (December 1, 2012), author interview.
Hindustan Times Online, https://www.hindustantimes.com/ (January 12, 2018), Sudhirendar Sharma, review of A World of Three Zeros.
Milaap Website, https://milaap.org/ (May 7, 2018), author profile.
Muhammad Yunus Website, http://www.muhammadyunus.org/ (May 7, 2018).
Nobel Prize Website, https://www.nobelprize.org/ (May 7, 2018), author profile.
PBS Online, https://www.pbs.org/ (May 7, 2018), author interview.
Sydney Morning Herald Online, https://www.smh.com.au/ (October 27, 2017), Fiona Capp, review of A World of Three Zeros.
Muhammad Yunus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other people with similar names, see Mohammad Yunus (disambiguation).
Muhammad Yunus
Professor Muhammad Yunus- Building Social Business Summit (8758300102).jpg
Yunus at a University of Salford event (May 2013)
Born 28 June 1940 (age 77)
Chittagong, Bengal Presidency, British India
Nationality Bangladeshi
Institution
University of Chittagong
Shahjalal University of Science and Technology
Middle Tennessee State University
Glasgow Caledonian University
Field
Microcredit theory
Development economics
School or
tradition Microcredit
Alma mater
University of Dhaka
Vanderbilt University
Contributions
Grameen Bank
Microcredit
Awards
Ramon Magsaysay Award (1984)
Independence Day Award (1987) [1]
Aga Khan Award for Architecture (1989)
World Food Prize (1994)
Pfeffer Peace Prize (1994)
Gandhi Peace Prize (2000)
Volvo Environment Prize (2003)
Nobel Peace Prize (2006)
Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009)
Congressional Gold Medal (2010)
Information at IDEAS / RePEc
Muhammad Yunus (Bengali: মুহাম্মদ ইউনূস; born 28 June 1940) is a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker, economist, and civil society leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance. These loans are given to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. In 2006, Yunus and the Grameen Bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts through microcredit to create economic and social development from below". 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".[2] Yunus has received several other national and international honours. He received the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010.[3]
In 2008, he was rated number 2 in Foreign Policy magazine's list of the 'Top 100 Global Thinkers'.[4]
In February 2011, Yunus together with Saskia Bruysten, Sophie Eisenmann and Hans Reitz co-founded Yunus Social Business – Global Initiatives (YSB). YSB creates and empowers social businesses to address and solve social problems around the world. As the international implementation arm for Yunus' vision of a new, humane capitalism, YSB manages incubator funds for social businesses in developing countries and provides advisory services to companies, governments, foundations and NGOs.
In 2012, he became Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland.[5][6] He is a member of the advisory board at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology.[citation needed] Previously, he was a professor of economics at Chittagong University in Bangladesh. He published several books related to his finance work. He is a founding board member of Grameen America and Grameen Foundation, which support microcredit.
Yunus also serves on the board of directors of the United Nations Foundation, a public charity created in 1998 by American philanthropist Ted Turner's $1 billion gift to support UN causes.[7]
In March 2011, the Bangladesh government fired Yunus from his position at Grameen Bank, citing legal violations and an age limit on his position.[8] Bangladesh's High Court affirmed the removal on 8 March. Yunus and Grameen Bank are appealing the decision, claiming Yunus' removal was politically motivated.[citation needed]
Contents
1 Early life and education
1.1 Early years
1.2 After graduation
2 Early career
3 Recognition
4 Political activity
5 Controversies
5.1 Allegations of embezzlement
5.2 Accusation of 'loan sharking' and effectiveness of microfinance
5.3 Political motivations behind the allegations
5.4 Transition to new management
5.5 Allegations involving partners: the food case and the phone case
5.6 Criticism of ideas
6 Trials
6.1 Background
6.2 From friends to foe
6.3 Historical description
6.4 Proceedings
6.5 From 2012
7 Personal life
7.1 Yunus Centre
8 Publications
9 Documentaries
10 Legacy and honours
11 See also
12 References
13 Further reading
14 External links
Early life and education
Early years
Yunus visiting Chittagong Collegiate School, in 2003
The third of nine children,[9] Yunus was born on 28 June 1940 to a Bengali Muslim family in the village of Bathua, by the Boxirhat Road in Hathazari, Chittagong in the Bengal Presidency of the British Raj, which today forms modern Bangladesh.[10][11] His father was Hazi Dula Mia Shoudagar, a jeweler, and his mother was Sufia Khatun. His early childhood was spent in the village. In 1944, his family moved to the city of Chittagong, and he moved from his village school to Lamabazar Primary School.[10][12] By 1949, his mother was afflicted with psychological illness.[11] Later, he passed the matriculation examination from Chittagong Collegiate School ranking 16th of 39,000 students in East Pakistan.[12] During his school years, he was an active Boy Scout, and traveled to West Pakistan and India in 1952, and to Canada in 1955 to attend Jamborees.[12] Later while Yunus studied at Chittagong College, he became active in cultural activities and won awards for drama.[12] In 1957, he enrolled in the Department of Economics at Dhaka University and completed his BA in 1960 and MA in 1961.
After graduation
After his graduation, Yunus joined the Bureau of Economics as a research assistant to the economics researches of Professor Nurul Islam and Rehman Sobhan.[12] Later, he was appointed lecturer in economics in Chittagong College in 1961.[12] During that time, he also set up a profitable packaging factory on the side.[11] In 1965, he received a Fulbright scholarship to study in the United States. He obtained his PhD in economics from the Vanderbilt University Graduate Program in Economic Development (GPED) in 1971.[13] From 1969 to 1972, Yunus was assistant professor of economics at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.
During the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, Yunus founded a citizen's committee and ran the Bangladesh Information Center, with other Bangladeshis in the United States, to raise support for liberation.[12] He also published the Bangladesh Newsletter from his home in Nashville. After the War, he returned to Bangladesh and was appointed to the government's Planning Commission headed by Nurul Islam. However, he found the job boring and resigned to join Chittagong University as head of the Economics department.[14] After observing the famine of 1974, he became involved in poverty reduction and established a rural economic program as a research project. In 1975, he developed a Nabajug (New Era) Tebhaga Khamar (three share farm) which the government adopted as the Packaged Input Programme.[12] In order to make the project more effective, Yunus and his associates proposed the Gram Sarkar (the village government) programme.[15] Introduced by president Ziaur Rahman in the late 1970s, the Government formed 40,392 village governments as a fourth layer of government in 2003. On 2 August 2005, in response to a petition by Bangladesh Legal Aids and Services Trust (BLAST) the High Court had declared village governments illegal and unconstitutional.[16]
His concept of microcredit for supporting innovators in multiple developing countries also inspired programs such as the Info lady Social Entrepreneurship Programme.[17][18][19]
Early career
Main article: Grameen Bank
Further information: Grameen family of organizations
Grameen Bank Head Office at Mirpur-2, Dhaka
In 1976, during visits to the poorest households in the village of Jobra near Chittagong University, Yunus discovered that very small loans could make a disproportionate difference to a poor person. Village women who made bamboo furniture had to take usurious loans to buy bamboo, and repay their profits to the lenders. Traditional banks did not want to make tiny loans at reasonable interest to the poor due to high risk of default.[20] But Yunus believed that, given the chance, the poor will repay the money and hence microcredit was a viable business model.[21] Yunus lent US$27 of his money to 42 women in the village, who made a profit of BDT 0.50 (US$0.02) each on the loan. Thus, Yunus is credited with the idea of microcredit.
In December 1976, Yunus finally secured a loan from the government Janata Bank to lend to the poor in Jobra. The institution continued to operate, securing loans from other banks for its projects. By 1982, it had 28,000 members. On 1 October 1983, the pilot project began operation as a full-fledged bank for poor Bangladeshis and was renamed Grameen Bank ("Village Bank"). Yunus and his colleagues encountered everything from violent radical leftists to conservative clergy who told women that they would be denied a Muslim burial if they borrowed money from Grameen.[11] By July 2007, Grameen had issued US$6.38 billion to 7.4 million borrowers.[22] To ensure repayment, the bank uses a system of "solidarity groups". These small informal groups apply together for loans and its members act as co-guarantors of repayment and support one another's efforts at economic self-advancement.[15]
In the late 1980s, Grameen started to diversify by attending to underutilized fishing ponds and irrigation pumps like deep tube wells.[23] In 1989, these diversified interests started growing into separate organizations. The fisheries project became Grameen Motsho ("Grameen Fisheries Foundation") and the irrigation project became Grameen Krishi ("Grameen Agriculture Foundation").[23] In time, the Grameen initiative grew into a multi-faceted group of profitable and non-profit ventures, including major projects like Grameen Trust and Grameen Fund, which runs equity projects like Grameen Software Limited, Grameen CyberNet Limited, and Grameen Knitwear Limited,[24] as well as Grameen Telecom, which has a stake in Grameenphone (GP), the biggest private phone company in Bangladesh.[25] From its start in March 1997 to 2007, GP's Village Phone (Polli Phone) project had brought cell-phone ownership to 260,000 rural poor in over 50,000 villages.[26]
In 1974 we ended up with a famine in the country. People were dying of hunger and not having enough to eat. And that's a terrible situation to see around you. And I was feeling terrible that here I teach elegant theories of economics, and those theories are of no use at the moment with the people who are going hungry. So I wanted to see if as a person, as a human being, I could be of some use to some people.
- Dr. Muhammad Yunus while talking about reason behind creating Grameen Bank [27]
The success of the Grameen microfinance model inspired similar efforts in about 100 developing countries and even in developed countries including the United States.[28] Many microcredit projects retain Grameen's emphasis of lending to women. More than 94% of Grameen loans have gone to women, who suffer disproportionately from poverty and who are more likely than men to devote their earnings to their families.[29]
For his work with Grameen, Yunus was named an Ashoka: Innovators for the Public Global Academy Member in 2001.[30] In the book[31] Grameen Social Business Model, its author Rashidul Bari said that Grameen's social business model (GSBM) has gone from being theory to an inspiring practice adopted by leading universities (e.g., Glasgow), entrepreneurs (e.g., Franck Riboud) and corporations (e.g., Danone) across the globe. Through Grameen Bank, Rashidul Bari claims that Yunus demonstrated how Grameen Social Business Model can harness the entrepreneurial spirit to empower poor women and alleviate their poverty. One conclusion Bari suggested to draw from Yunus' concepts is that the poor are like a "bonsai tree", and they can do big things if they get access to the social business that holds potential to empower them to become self-sufficient.
Recognition
Main article: List of awards received by Muhammad Yunus
Yunus was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Grameen Bank, for their efforts to create economic and social development. In the prize announcement The Norwegian Nobel Committee mentioned:[2]
Yunus at the Grand Hotel in Oslo, Norway
Muhammad Yunus has shown himself to be a leader who has managed to translate visions into practical action for the benefit of millions of people, not only in Bangladesh, but also in many other countries. Loans to poor people without any financial security had appeared to be an impossible idea. From modest beginnings three decades ago, Yunus has, first and foremost through Grameen Bank, developed micro-credit into an ever more important instrument in the struggle against poverty.
Yunus was the first Bangladeshi to ever get a Nobel Prize. After receiving the news of the important award, Yunus announced that he would use part of his share of the $1.4 million (equivalent to $1.70 million in 2017) award money to create a company to make low-cost, high-nutrition food for the poor; while the rest would go toward setting up an eye hospital for the poor in Bangladesh.[32]
Former US president Bill Clinton was a vocal advocate for the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Yunus. He expressed this in Rolling Stone magazine[33] as well as in his autobiography My Life.[34] In a speech given at University of California, Berkeley in 2002, President Clinton described Yunus as "a man who long ago should have won the Nobel Prize [in Economics and] I'll keep saying that until they finally give it to him."[35] Conversely, The Economist stated explicitly that while Yunus was doing excellent work to fight poverty, it was not appropriate to award him the Peace Prize, stating: "... the Nobel committee could have made a braver, more difficult, choice by declaring that there would be no recipient at all."[36]
Muhammad Yunus at the Annual Meeting 2009 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
He is one of only seven persons to have won the Nobel Peace Prize, Presidential Medal of Freedom,[37] and the Congressional Gold Medal.[38] Other notable awards include the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1984,[15] the World Food Prize,[39] the International Simon Bolivar Prize (1996),[40] the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord[41] and the Sydney Peace Prize in 1998,[42] and the Seoul Peace Prize in 2006. Additionally, Yunus has been awarded 50 honorary doctorate degrees from universities across 20 countries, and 113 international awards from 26 different countries including state honours from 10 countries.[43][44][45] Bangladesh government brought out a commemorative stamp to honour his Nobel Award.[46]
Yunus was named by Fortune Magazine in March 2012 as one of 12 greatest entrepreneurs of the current era.[47] In its citation, Fortune Magazine said "Yunus' idea inspired countless numbers of young people to devote themselves to social causes all over the world."
In January 2008, Houston, Texas declared 14 January as "Muhammad Yunus Day".[48]
Yunus was named among the most desired thinkers the world should listen to by the FP 100 (world's most influential elite) in the December 2009 issue of Foreign Policy magazine.[49]
Muhammad Yunus with Brazilian President Lula Da Silva in 2008 after winning Nobel Peace Prize
In 2010, The British Magazine New Statesman listed Yunus at 40th in the list of "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures 2010".[50]
Yunus received 50 honorary doctorate degrees from universities from Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, Peru, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, the UK, and the US.[51]
United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, invited Yunus to serve as an MDG Advocate. Yunus sits on the Board of United Nations Foundation, Schwab Foundation, Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, Grameen Credit Agricole Microcredit Foundation. He has been a member of Fondation Chirac's honour committee,[52] ever since the foundation was launched in 2008 by former French president Jacques Chirac in order to promote world peace.
Yunus has become a well-known international figure. He has delivered numerous lectures around the world,[53][54][55][56][57] and has appeared on popular television shows, including The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2006, The Colbert Report in 2008, Real Time with Bill Maher in 2009 and The Simpsons in 2010.[citation needed] On Google+, Yunus is one of the most followed person worldwide, with over two million followers.[58]
Political activity
Yunus (right) at a book signing at the London School of Economics
See also: Nagorik Shakti
In early 2006 Yunus, along with other members of the civil society including Professor Rehman Sobhan, Justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman, Dr Kamal Hossain, Matiur Rahman, Mahfuz Anam and Debapriya Bhattacharya, participated in a campaign for honest and clean candidates in national elections.[59] He considered entering politics in the later part of that year.[60] On 11 February 2007, Yunus wrote an open letter, published in the Bangladeshi newspaper Daily Star, where he asked citizens for views on his plan to float a political party to establish political goodwill, proper leadership and good governance. In the letter, he called on everyone to briefly outline how he should go about the task and how they can contribute to it.[61] Yunus finally announced that he is willing to launch a political party tentatively called Citizens' Power (Nagorik Shakti) on 18 February 2007.[62][63] There was speculation that the army supported a move by Yunus into politics.[64] On 3 May, however, Yunus declared that he had decided to abandon his political plans following a meeting with the head of the interim government, Fakhruddin Ahmed.[65]
In July 2007 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nelson Mandela, Graça Machel and Desmond Tutu convened a group of world leaders "to contribute their wisdom, independent leadership and integrity to tackle some of the world's toughest problems."[66] Nelson Mandela announced the formation of this new group, The Elders, in a speech he delivered on the occasion of his 89th birthday.[67] Yunus attended the launch of the group and was one of its founding members. He stepped down as an Elder in September 2009, stating that he was unable to do justice to his membership due to the demands of his work.[68]
Yunus is a member of the Africa Progress Panel (APP), a group of ten distinguished individuals who advocate at the highest levels for equitable and sustainable development in Africa. Every year, the Panel releases a report, the Africa Progress Report, that outlines an issue of immediate importance to the continent and suggests a set of associated policies.[69] In July 2009, Yunus became a member of the SNV Netherlands Development Organisation International Advisory Board to support the organisation's poverty reduction work.[70] Since 2010, Yunus has served as a Commissioner for the Broadband Commission for Digital Development, a UN initiative which seeks to use broadband internet services to accelerate social and economic development.[71] In March 2016, he was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth, which was co-chaired by presidents François Hollande of France and Jacob Zuma of South Africa.[72]
Controversies
The Government announced a review of Grameen Bank activities on 11 January 2011,[73] which is ongoing. In February, several international leaders, such as Mary Robinson, stepped up their defence of Yunus through a number of efforts, including the founding of a formal network of supporters known as "Friends of Grameen".[74]
On 15 February 2011, the Finance Minister of Bangladesh, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, declared that Yunus should "stay away" from Grameen Bank while it is being investigated.[75] On 2 March 2011, Muzammel Huq – a former Bank employee, whom the government had appointed Chairman in January[76] – announced that Yunus had been fired as Managing Director of the Bank.[77] However, Bank General Manager Jannat-E Quanine issued a statement that Yunus was "continuing in his office" pending review of the legal issues surrounding the controversy .[78]
In March 2011, Yunus petitioned the Bangladesh High Court challenging the legality of the decision by the Bangladeshi Central Bank to remove him as Managing Director of Grameen Bank.[79] The same day, nine elected directors of Grameen Bank filed a second petition.[80] U.S. Senator John Kerry expressed his support to Yunus in a statement on 5 March 2011 and declared that he was "deeply concerned" by this affair.[81] The same day in Bangladesh, thousands of people protested and formed human chains to support Yunus.[82] The High Court hearing on the petitions, was planned for 6 March 2011 but postponed. On 8 March 2011, the Court confirmed Yunus's dismissal.[83]
Allegations of embezzlement
A Danish documentary, Caught in Micro Debt,[84] produced and directed by journalist Tom Heinemann, aired on Norwegian national television NRK in November 2010. It made a number of allegations against Yunus and Grameen Bank. Those allegations were disproved by later inquiries. The documentary accused Yunus and Grameen Bank of diverting 7 billion taka (about 100 million US dollars) given by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) from Grameen Bank to another organisation called Grameen Kalyan in 1996. This allegation was widely spread in the Bangladeshi electronic media in December 2010.[85] On 6 December, NORAD published a statement[86] clearing Yunus and the Bank from any wrongdoing on this point, following a comprehensive review of NORAD's support commissioned by the Minister of International Development.
However, the allegations quickly spread through the Bangladesh media. Leading Bangladeshi economist Rehman Sobhan stated "Rather than first seeking clarification and response from Grameen Bank as to the validity of the TV program, some sections of the media and society pounced on it with unseemly enthusiasm, using it as an opportunity to cite wrongdoing in a widely respected organization." Yunus asked for consistent and transparent investigations on these matters.[87]
Accusation of 'loan sharking' and effectiveness of microfinance
Yunus at an opening ceremony of his new book in New York City
The allegations against Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank were made in a context where some people began to question the effectiveness of microfinance, prompted by the actions of some for-profit microfinance institutions (MFIs) in India[88] and Mexico.[89] Coercion, peer pressure and physical harassment were reportedly used as loan repayment practices in some specific MFIs.[90] Commercialization of microcredit[91] prompted Yunus to state that he "never imagined that one day microcredit would give rise to its own breed of loan sharks."[92]
The lure of profits attracted some for-profit MFIs to hold initial public offerings (IPOs), including the largest Indian MFI, SKS Microfinance, which held an IPO in July 2010.[93] In September 2010, Yunus criticized the IPO; in a debate with SKS founder Vikram Akula during the Clinton Global Initiative meeting,[94] he said, "Microcredit is not about exciting people to make money off the poor. That's what you're doing. That's the wrong message completely." Calculations of actual interest rate vary, but one estimate puts average Grameen rates at about a 23% interest rate (comparable to the inflation rate).[95] At the same time the organization enjoyed a tax-free status for a period of several years which now has been removed.[96]
Sympathizers of Yunus allege that the government of Bangladesh is exploiting this "moral crisis around microcredit" to oust Yunus.[97]
Political motivations behind the allegations
Though Grameen Bank was quickly cleared by the Norwegian government of all allegations surrounding misused or misappropriated funds in December 2010, in March 2011 the Bangladeshi government launched a three-month investigation of all Grameen Bank's activities.[73] This inquiry prevented Muhammad Yunus from participating in the World Economic Forum.[98]
In January 2011, Yunus appeared in court in a defamation case filed by a local politician from a minor left-leaning party in 2007, complaining about a statement that Yunus made to the AFP news agency, "Politicians in Bangladesh only work for power. There is no ideology here".[99] At the hearing, Yunus was granted bail and exempted from personal appearance at subsequent hearings.[100]
These investigations fueled suspicion that many attacks might be politically motivated,[101] due to difficult relations between Sheikh Hasina and Yunus since early 2007, when Yunus created his own political party, an effort he dropped in May 2007.[65]
Transition to new management
At 72 years old, he was 12 years beyond the legal retirement age for civil servants in Bangladesh in 2011.[102] Government spokespersons called for Yunus to step down and declared, "We need to redefine the bank's role and bring it under closer regulation."[103]
The government as chairman Muzammel Huq, himself a foundational figure of the Grameen Bank and one of senior managers together with Yunus of GB Research and Operations until the early 2000s.[76] He has publicly criticised Yunus, saying, "I think he is a good man with a small heart ... He cannot give credit to anyone but himself".
Allegations involving partners: the food case and the phone case
On 27 January 2011, Yunus appeared in court in a food-adulteration case filed by the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) Food Safety Court, accusing him of producing an "adulterated" yogurt[104] whose fat content was below the legal minimum. This yogurt is produced by Grameen Danone, a social business joint venture between Grameen Bank and Danone that aims to provide opportunities for street vendors who sell the yogurt and to improve child nutrition with the nutrient-fortified yogurt. According to Yunus's lawyer, the allegations are "false and baseless".[105] At the request of Yunus's lawyers, pointing procedural irregularities and errors, this case is now considered by the High Court.
Investigation by a 2012 independent public commission examining the Grameen Bank assert that Yunus misrepresented his authority and abused his powers during his tenure in management. The report establishes that legal challenges exist for authority of the Grameen Bank to have acted as guarantor and to have forwarded credit to independent private enterprises during Dr. Yunus's tenure. The report raised specific questions relating to a) establishment and financing of GrameenPhone, a for-profit telecommunications entity initially established as a trust for the Grameen Bank borrowers together with Norwegian government owned multinational Telenor by Dr Yunus, and b) simultaneous management and operational financing of private enterprises established by Dr Yunus applying resources of the Grameen Bank. The commission also examined the legal status of the Grameen Bank and concluded that it was de jure public i.e. government entity, of which incompetent oversight by the state and (potentially unwitting) misrepresentation by Dr. Yunus in past resulted in the popular perception of the private ownership. The commission report refers to obstruction of commission investigations by current Grameen Bank management, representatives of Telenor, the Government of Bangladesh, and by partisans of Dr. Yunus. Full implications of the report are thus far not closely examined in either state-controlled elements of Bangladeshi media, or by pro-Yunus press releases, where these implicate Dr Yunus as at least accessory to corruption at the nexus of the Bangladeshi public-commercial establishment, in collusion with other parties.[106]
Criticism of ideas
See also: Impact of microcredit
Microfinance has been criticized in the foreign media. The Guardian (UK) asked whether microfinance was a 'neoliberal fairytale'. The article pointed out criticisms including that most loans are not used to create small businesses, but instead 'consumption smoothing'.[107]
Trials
The trial of Muhammad Yunus[108] is the series of trials launched by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh against Muhammad Yunus. The former put the latter on trial in 2010 and ultimately removed him from Grameen Bank,[109] citing that he was too old to run the Bank which he founded in 1983.[110] In 2013, he was put him on trial for a second time because he had supposedly received earnings without the necessary permission from the government, including his Nobel Peace Prize earnings and the royalties from his book sales.[111] The article claims that this series of trials against Yunus[112] has puzzled billions of people around the world, from the 8.3 million[113] underprivileged[114] women of Grameen Bank[115] to US[116] President Barack Obama.[117] Likening Hasina's[118] political vendetta against Yunus[119] to a modern-day replay[120] of the conflict[121] between Archimedes and General Marcellus, the article predicts that the "banker to the poor"[122] may face a fate[123] similar to the father of mathematics for asking Hasina[124] not to disturb the Grameen Bank.[125] Vikas Bajaj wrote in the Taking Note editorial blog of The New York Times on 7 November 2013:
The government of Bangladesh has played its trump card in its long-running campaign against Grameen Bank and its founder Muhammad Yunus. Last week, legislators passed a law that effectively nationalizes the bank, which pioneered the idea of making small loans to poor women, by wresting control of it from the 8.4 million rural women that own a majority of its shares.[126]
Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize, 2006
Background
For many years, Yunus remained a follower of Hasina's father, Sheikh Mujib, the founding father of Bangladesh.[127] While teaching at Middle Tennessee State University,[128] Yunus founded the Bangladesh Citizen's Committee (BCC), as a response to West Pakistan's aggression against Bangladesh and its leader Sheikh Mujib.[129] After the outbreak of the war of liberation, the BCC selected Yunus to become editor of its newly published Bangladesh News Letter.[130] Inspired by the birth of Bangladesh in 1971, Yunus returned home in 1972, to help Mujib rebuild the nation shattered by a long and bloody war. The relationship did not end after Mujib's death. Yunus maintained a professional relationship with Mujib's daughter, Hasina. Yunus appointed Hasina—along with US first lady Hillary Clinton—as co-chair of a microcredit summit held 2–4 February 1997. At this event, 50 heads of state and high-level officials from 137 nation-states gathered in Washington, DC, to discuss solutions to poverty. At this macroevent for microcredit, Hasina had nothing but praise for her fatherly figure. In her statement she praised,"the outstanding work done by Professor Yunus and the Grameen Bank he founded.. . . The success of the Grameen Bank has created optimism about the viability of banks engaged in extending micro-credit to the poor.[131] The inaugural ceremony of Grameen Phone, the largest telephone service in Bangladesh, took place at Hasina's office on 26 March 1997. Using Grameen Phone, Hasina made the first call to Thorbjorn Jagland, the then-Norwegian prime minister. When her conversation ended with Jagland, she received another call, this one from Laily Begum, a Grameen telephone employee. However, this long relationship was doomed in 2007 after Yunus disclosed his intention to form a political party, Nagorik Shakti[132]
From friends to foe
The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina waged a destructive campaign against Grameen and its founder, Muhammad Yunus. The New York Times reports, " Her actions appear to be retaliation for Mr. Yunus's announcement in 2007 that he would seek public office, even though he never went through with his plans".[133] According to Times of India, one other factor contributed to her brash decision against Yunus: the Nobel Peace Prize [134]
Hasina thought that the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize Committee would give her the prize for signing a peace treaty, the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in 1997. On 9 March, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam revealed the government's attitude when he said, "Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize…" He went on to challenge the wisdom of the Nobel committee for not awarding the prize to his master, Hasina, for the CHT accord.[135]
Historical description
On 11 January 2007, Army General Moeen U Ahmed staged a military coup.[136] Meanwhile, Yunus turned down his request to become the nation's fourth Chief Advisor after Khaleda Zia's term ended. Yunus, however, suggested the general pick Fakhruddin Ahmed[137] for the job. Fakhruddin took office on 11 January 2007 and made it clear on his very first day that he intended not only to arrange a free and fair election but also to clean up corruption. While Khalada and Hasina criticised Fakruddin and claimed that it was not his job to clean up corruption, Yunus expressed his satisfaction. In an interview with the AFP news agency, Yunus remarked that politicians in Bangladesh only work for money, saying, "There is no ideology here.[138]" Hasina had a harsh reaction to Yunus' comments, calling him a "usurer who has not only failed to eradicate poverty but has also nurtured poverty.[139]" This was Hasina's first public statement against Yunus. One could make an analogy between Yunus' involvement as a nonpolitician and the role that Czech writer Václav Havel played in his country after the overthrow of the Communist regime. Later Yunus announced the name of this prospective political party, Nagorik Shakti (Citizen's Power), saying he had a mission to enter the political arena in his nation in hope of changing its identity from "bottomless basket" to "rising tiger." However, on 3 May, Yunus published a third open letter and put his political ambitions to rest.[112]
Proceedings
Bangladesh government launched the first trial against Yunus in December 2010, one month after the release of Caught in Micro Debt,[140] a documentary by Tom Heinemann. Screened on Norwegian television on 30 November 2010, the film broadcast the allegation that Yunus stashed approximately $100 million[141] in 1996 into Grameen Kalyan, a sister company of Grameen Bank. however, Yunus denied[142] the allegations. After completing a full investigation, the Norwegian government found Yunus innocent.[143] However, Prime Minister Hasina used the situation as to increase sustained attacks on Yunus: these included claims that Yunus’ age means he’s too old to run the bank,[144] Grameen has created companies unlawfully,[145] and the bank operates as an organ of the government.[clarification needed] The bank has denied all illegalities, arguing, among other things, that age limits do not apply in this case since Grameen, like BRAC, is a special bank. Yunus has also become subject to legal harassment over three criminal cases. A criminal defamation case was filed against Yunus[138] for criticising politicians in 2007. A food inspector filed another case against Yunus,[146] alleging that yogurt manufactured by the Grameen-Danone was adulterated. The final blow came on 3 March 2011. Bangladesh Bank informed Grameen in a letter that Yunus had been removed from Grameen, citing that he was older than the mandatory retirement age of 60, even though nine of the bank's directors-who were elected by 8.3 million Grameen Bank borrowers-allowed him to stay on the job after he had crossed that threshold. Backed by nine boards of directors, 22 thousand employees,[147] and 8.3 million Grameen borrowers,[148] Yunus defied the government order, returned to Grameen's headquarters in Dhaka, and lodged an appeal at Dhaka High Court against the decision. However, Justice Mohammad Momtazuddin Ahmed and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore delivered the verdict against Yunus, claiming that Yunus' posting as the MD of Grameen since 1999 was illegal as he had reached the age of 60 by then.[149] However, Yunus still did not lose faith in the justice system. Backed by international leaders[150] (e.g., Hillary and Bill Clinton), national leaders (e.g., Sir Fazle Hasan Abed) and 8.3 million Grameen borrowers, Yunus filed an appeal in Bangladesh Supreme Court against the High Court's verdict. The full bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque heard the appeal on 15 March and delivered the verdict which upheld Yunus removal by government.[151]
From 2012
On 2 August 2012, Sheikh Hasina's approved a draft of "Grameen Bank Ordinance 2012[152]" to increase government control over the bank.[152] Currently, that power resides with the bank's directors—consisting of nine poor women—who were elected by 8.3 million Grameen borrowers. Hasina also ordered a fresh investigation into the activities and financial transactions of Yunus[153] in his later years as managing director of Grameen, but people see the move as nothing more than an attempt to destroy his image. The prime minister also alleged that Yunus had received his earnings without the necessary permission from the government, including his Nobel Peace Prize earnings and the royalties from his books.[154] On 4 October 2013, Bangladesh's cabinet has approved the draft of a new law that will give the country's central bank closer control over Grameen Bank,[155] raising the stakes in a long-running dispute with the pioneering microlender. The Grameen Bank Act 2013 was approved at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina[156] on Thursday. It was passed by parliament on 7 November 2013,[157] and replaced the Grameen Bank Ordinance, the law that underpinned the creation of Grameen Bank as a specialised microcredit institution in 1983.[158] The government new plan is to break Grameen into 19 pieces.[133] The New York Times reports:
Since then, the government has started an investigation into the bank and is now planning to take over Grameen — a majority of whose shares are owned by its borrowers — and break it up into 19 regional lenders.[133]
Personal life
In 1967, while Yunus attended Vanderbilt University, he met Vera Forostenko, a student of Russian literature at Vanderbilt University and daughter of Russian immigrants to Trenton, New Jersey, US. They were married in 1970.[11][14] Yunus's marriage with Vera ended within months of the birth of their baby girl, Monica Yunus (born 1979 Chittagong), as Vera returned to New Jersey claiming that Bangladesh was not a good place to raise a baby.[11][14] Yunus later married Afrozi Yunus, who was then a researcher in physics at Manchester University.[14] She was later appointed as a professor of physics at Jahangirnagar University. Their daughter Deena Afroz Yunus was born in 1986.[14]
Yunus's brothers are also active in academia. His brother Muhammad Ibrahim is a professor of physics at Dhaka University and the founder of The Center for Mass Education in Science (CMES), which brings science education to adolescent girls in villages.[159] His younger brother Muhammad Jahangir is a popular television presenter and a well known social activist in Bangladesh. He is also the moderator of several Talk show programmes in Bangladesh. Monica Yunus, his elder daughter, is an operatic soprano, working in New York City.[160]
Yunus Centre
The Yunus Centre, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, is a think tank for issues related to social business, working in the field of poverty alleviation and sustainability. It is 'aimed primarily at promoting and disseminating Professor Yunus' philosophy, with a special focus on social business' and currently chaired by Prof. Muhammad Yunus.
Publications
Yunus, Muhammad (1974). Three Farmers of Jobra. Department of Economics, Chittagong University.
—— (1976). Planning in Bangladesh: Format, Technique, and Priority, and Other Essays; Rural Studies Project, Department of Economics. Chittagong University.
——; Isalama, Saiyada Manajurula; Rahman, Arifa (1991). Jorimon and Others: Faces of Poverty. Grameen Bank.
—— (1994). Grameen Bank, as I See it. Grameen Bank.
—— (1999). Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty. New York: PublicAffairs. ISBN 978-1-58648-198-8.
—— (2007). Creating a World without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism. New York: PublicAffairs. ISBN 978-1-58648-493-4.
—— (2010). Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism that Serves Humanity's Most Pressing Needs. New York: Public Affairs. ISBN 978-1-58648-824-6.
Yunus, Muhammad, Moingeon, Bertrand and Laurence Lehmann-Ortega (2010), "Building Social Business Models: Lessons from the Grameen Experience", April–June, vol 43, number 2–3, Long Range Planning, pp. 308–325
—— (2017). A World of Three Zeroes: the new economics of zero poverty, zero unemployment, and zero carbon emissions. Scribe Publications.
Documentaries
2010 - To Catch a Dollar
2011 - Bonsai People – The Vision of Muhammad Yunus
Legacy and honours
In 2006, awarded Nobel Peace Prize for his finance work.
Chosen by Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia as one of The 25 Most Influential Business Persons of the Past 25 Years, covered in a PBS documentary.[161]
In 2006, Time magazine ranked him as one of the top 12 business leaders, including him among "60 years of Asian Heroes."[162]
In 2008, Yunus was voted 2nd on the list of Top 100 Public Intellectuals in an open online poll conducted by Prospect Magazine (UK) and Foreign Policy (United States).[163]
In 2009, Yunus was awarded the Golden Biatec Award, the highest award bestowed by Slovakia's Informal Economic Forum Economic Club, for individuals who exhibit economic, social, scientific, educational and cultural accomplishments in the Slovak Republic.[164]
What is Grameen Bank and Who is Muhammad Yunus?
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Last week, we talked about microfinance and how it works. This week, we will talk about how it all began.
Muhammad_yunus_world_economic_forum_2009_annual_meeting
The microfinance movement was started off by one man: Muhammad Yunus, with one vision: to eradicate poverty from the world. Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi economist, widely known as the Father of Microfinance founded the Grameen Bank to make small loans to the poor in Bangladesh.
Dr Yunus was greatly influenced by his mother who was known to never turn away anyone in need. The famine that hit Bangladesh in 1974 pushed him to do something about poverty. During his visits to the poorest households in the village of Jobra, he realised that a small loan can make a big difference to a poor person. He made his first loan to 42 women in the village, with just USD $27 from his own pocket. With this money, the women were able to make baskets, sell them and quickly repay the money they borrowed from him. He began to see that small loans would not only help them survive, but create in them the spark of enterprise and this could empower them and pull them out of poverty.
Since traditional banks refused to make small loans to the poor, the idea for Grameen Bank was born. In 1976, Dr Yunus launched the activities of Grameen bank, giving out microloans to the poor. In 1983, Grameen Bank was officially formed. The borrowers typically repay back the loan in small weekly installments. In small villages with no access to banks, Grameen has brought banking to people’s homes. The bank’s 22,149 staff serve 8.37 million borrowers at their door-step in 81,379 villages all over Bangladesh, every week. So far, Grameen Bank has disbursed USD $11 billion in loans.
The success of the Grameen microfinance model has inspired hundreds of countries throughout the world, including the USA. Grameen Bank and Dr Yunus jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.
Next week, we’ll learn all group-based credit approach, accountability and SHGs & JLGs .
Image source: World Economic Forum
How to do crowdfunding that will successfully raise funds
How Grameen founder Muhammad Yunus fell from grace
By Alastair Lawson
BBC News
5 April 2011
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Muhammad Yunus has been a poster boy for the microfinance industry
In 2006 Muhammmad Yunus and the Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his pioneering work in the fight against poverty through the microcredit system. It has so far been the crowning achievement of his career.
Yet only five years after winning the award, Prof Yunus has been ignominiously turfed out of his job as managing director of the Grameen Bank he created.
So what prompted his spectacular fall from grace? Part of the answer lies in the character of the man, who evokes strong emotions in Bangladesh.
Admirers see him as someone who has arguably done more than any other individual in the developing world to lead the fight against poverty.
But critics see him as a person who brooks no criticism of his management style - someone who fell victim to his own vanity by ill-advisedly trying to set up a political party.
Huge miscalculation
It would be no exaggeration to say that in 2007 Prof Yunus was revered in Bangladesh for winning the Nobel prize. He had, up until then, mostly stayed clear of politics, apart from occasionally joining aid agencies and non-governmental organisations to call for better governance in his home country.
Image caption
Prof Yunus has increasingly had to defend himself in the courts
In January of that year he was reportedly approached by the military to head a caretaker government, with a view to becoming the new prime minister, and so bring an end to what it saw as a damaging cycle of poorly-performing governments either led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party or the Awami League.
He later recommended the former head of the Bangladeshi central bank Fakhruddin Ahmed for the job.
Soon afterwards Prof Yunus decided to form his own political party - in a move which even his most ardent supporters have described as a huge miscalculation.
His critics denounced him. He soon realised for himself it was a bad idea when the small support base he had for his party evaporated within hours. The move into politics was rapidly aborted, but it came too late to pacify some of his enemies.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has never forgiven him. The announcement came just as the military began a crackdown on political parties, arresting dozens of top leaders on charges of corruption. Sheikh Hasina herself would be put under arrest a few months later.
She saw Prof Yunus's move as a behind-the-scenes and shabby deal to remove her from politics. It was a charge he denied - arguing that he could not abandon his country in what looked like its hour of need.
If her government was seeking revenge, it was not hard for them to find it. In December, Sheikh Hasina complained that the Grameen Bank was overcharging its eight million borrowers and that it was in effect "sucking blood from the poor".
In humiliating language for Prof Yunus a few months later, they argued that he was past his retirement age and should not have been reappointed as managing director of Grameen Bank once he reached retirement age - at 60 - in 2000.
Within months of first airing their criticisms they began the process of removing Prof Yunus from his position as managing director of the Grameen Bank. It was a spectacularly speedy demise.
Electrifying
But his supporters say he has since bounced back.
Image caption
Many Grameen Bank employees remain devoted to Prof Yunus
They say the fact that Prof Yunus won the Nobel award along with the bank he formed is significant because there are few institutions - as opposed to international bodies - who win it.
"Doesn't that say something about his institution-building capacity and his successful management style?" argues Bangladesh Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam.
"While it it is true that the events of 2007 were a setback for Prof Yunus, the government's somewhat clumsy and spiteful efforts to get rid of the country's only Nobel winner have won him sympathy from the Bangladeshi public - not to mention prominent figures on the world stage."
BBC Bengali editor Sabir Mustafa says that he witnessed the professor's ability to win over a world audience in 1995, when he addressed a UN conference on women in Beijing.
"It was a speech that seemed to encapsulate to me all the reasons why Prof Yunus is so renowned internationally," he said.
But at the same time the negative side of his character was also on display.
"He showed little willingness to engage with the Bangladeshi media, even when approached. People often feel he is not prepared to face, let along answer, critical questions about the way Grameen Bank operates,'' says Sabir Mustafa.
Critics also argue that Prof Yunus has always surrounded himself with sycophants and takes criticism of Grameen Bank as a personal affront.
In many respects the arguments over his work mirror some of the bitter divisions within Bangladesh itself - it is a country where the prime minister and the leader of the opposition have not made much effort to conceal their mutual loathing.
Harsher critics of the professor say that even the microcredit concept was not really his brainchild. They argue that it was around long before he latched on to the idea in the early 1980s.
But supporters say that who actually invented microcredit is not the question. Prof Yunus's achievement, they argue, is the distribution of millions of small loans through the foundation of the first bank in the world which provides money to poorer people without asking for collateral.
"What makes his system so unique is that the Grameen Bank of Prof Yunus has made these loans without any guarantee of repayment," says Mr Anam.
"And the amazing thing is that the repayment rate is much better than many commercial banks.
"It is a system that has been copied by innumerable countries in the world, be they socialist, communist or capitalist - surely that is no mean achievement and that will be his legacy."
Muhammad Yunus: Bangladesh probes Nobel laureate's tax
Yunus' family and micro-credit bank investigated for tax irregularities in a case some see as politically motivated.
by David Bergman
8 Dec 2016
The campaign against the lauded economist started six years ago [Getty Images]
The campaign against the lauded economist started six years ago [Getty Images]
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Dhaka, Bangladesh - Authorities have launched a new investigation into the financial affairs of the Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, his family, and the micro-credit agency Grameen Bank which he founded.
Last week, the Central Investigation Cell of the National Bureau of Revenue sent notices to banks in Bangladesh requiring them to provide information within seven days about any accounts, loans, or other financial instruments held in the past seven years either by Yunus, his wife, the Yunus family trust, or Grameen Bank.
The notices, seen by Al Jazeera, were sent out a week after a tax commissioner had written to Yunus informing him that the NBR had also decided to audit the Nobel laureate's personal tax return for the current financial year, and asking for documentation to "verify" his income and expenditure.
Sabbir Osmani, media spokesperson for the Yunus Centre, said Yunus was "not in a position to comment" on the NBR notices sent to the banks.
In relation to the information sought about Yunus's own tax return, Osmani said at the time Yunus had lodged it he provided all the information now requested by tax authorities.
"Professor Yunus has always provided all information related to his taxes in a timely manner," Osmani said.
It was not the first time the NBR has shown an interest in Yunus' financial affairs.
In 2015, NBR filed a court case against Yunus for allegedly failing to pay $1.5m in tax - an allegation the Nobel Peace Prize winner called "baseless". The case was subsequently stayed by the High Court.
The latest inquiry is seen by some observers as a possible new step in the ruling Awami League party's ongoing feud with Yunus, which was initially triggered by his attempt in 2007 to establish a rival political party.
READ MORE: 'Bangladesh overburdened by political prisoners'
"The NBR has jurisdiction to make these kind of inquiries and if they are done to see if there is any tax evasion or irregularity, that is a good practice," said Dr Iftekharuzzaman, head of the Bangladesh chapter of Transparency International.
Bangladesh Grameen Bank customers fear government takeover
"But if it is politically motivated, to victimise a person, then it is a cause of concern. In the case of Yunus, his taxes have reportedly already been scrutinised in earlier years, including investigations into his accounts and those of Grameen Bank. And if this new inquiry is related to anything other than tax, then it is a matter of apprehension."
The campaign against the lauded economist started six years ago in November 2010, when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina claimed Yunus was "sucking blood from the poor in the name of poverty alleviation".
In the following years, government authorities removed Yunus as managing director of Grameen Bank, filed a criminal case against him for food adulteration, and initiated investigations into the bank and its sister companies.
The prime minister has also accused him of lobbying the World Bank to stop its $3bn financing of the Padma bridge, and this year said "the conspirators" seeking to block the grant "will be prosecuted".
READ MORE: Bangladesh accused of 'kneecapping opposition members'
The prime minister's media adviser, Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, denied that the new NBR inquiries involved any kind of harassment.
"These letters are just a question of a financial institution getting financial information which can happen to any citizen, including ministers and businessman," Chowdhury said.
"I do not think that this should be treated as new form of harassment. Yunus is a respected person and the government has not filed any case against him, and there is no question of harassment by the government."
The NBR letters were sent a couple of weeks after US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, a strong supporter of Yunus when she was secretary of state, lost the US election.
In a letter to president-elect Donald Trump, the Bangladeshi prime minister said he had shown "extraordinary leadership [in] serving the American people and also the global humanity".
Human beings not wired to hold salaried jobs; should become independent entrepreneurs: Muhammad Yunus
By Suman Layak, ET Bureau|Updated: Feb 04, 2018, 10.58 AM IST
Life is not easy in Bangladesh for the country’s sole Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. He is globally considered the father of micro-finance. However, he is not allowed to step into the offices of Grameen Bank that he founded (Grameen bank and Yunus were jointly awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2006). Although he works out of the same building for his other baby, Yunus Foundation, he has to stay away from Grameen. Almost every senior executive at Grameen Bank had been recruited by Yunus. It is being run in turns by officers assuming charge, as their seniors retire — often having tenures of a few months. In 2011 Yunus was forced to resign by the government on the technicality of having crossed the retirement age of 60. He is now 77.
When Yunus is not in his office, he is largely confined to his home, given the animosity of the current Awami League government. Friends and well-wishers fear for his safety and have advised him not to move around too much. The political attacks on him may be traced to 2006-07 when he started to harbour ambitions of public office and even floated plans for building a political party. The period since has seen a set of investigations against Yunus, including one for adulteration of curd. In October last year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy alleged that Yunus has siphoned off $100 million from Grameen Bank to another company not related to the micro-finance business and has tried to block the World Bank funding of a bridge to be built across the river Padma, one of the pet projects of the prime minister. A few employees of Grameen Telecom, a telecom venture Yunus started in Bangladesh, meanwhile have taken him to court for non-payment of dividends.
Unlike his troubles at home, Yunus is much sought-after across the world. He now spends most of his time outside his country — often 200 days a year — and travelling the world. When he was in Mumbai recently, he pointed to the red suitcase lying in his bedroom — that is what he lives out of nowadays.
He has been promoting his new book, A World of Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment and Zero Net Carbon Emissions. After finishing a tour of Brazil and a 10-citty tour in the US, Yunus spent time in England and France promoting various editions of the book. Through November 2017 and then January 2018, he travelled across India and participated in lit fests in many cities, including in Jaipur. He also agreed to set up multiple centres to promote social entrepreneurship with Ashoka University and Amity University.
Yunus has taken on the role of evangelising social entrepreneurship. He says human beings are not wired to hold salaried jobs; instead each individual should be an independent entrepreneur. He says this will become more and more important as artificial intelligence and robots will take away more human jobs and humans will have to find other occupations.
He says trucking will be the first profession to be seriously affected as driverless trucks start to take over.
The world’s wealth, Yunus explains, has taken the shape of a mushroom, where the bulk of it has been cornered by a few people — represented by the head of the mushroom, while the remaining population is only the stem. Through his foundation Yunus wants to fund and promote social entrepreneurship ventures where the entire profit will be reinvested into the company.
As a pointer to the success of his model, Yunus talks about Grameen Bank. “The quantum of savings by the members of Grameen Bank, who are also its owners, now exceeds the quantum of their borrowings,” he says.
Multiple funds, owned and managed by various entities, use Yunus as the patron. The largest is Danone Communities Fund, a $100 million fund out of Paris. Almost 400 social ventures have been funded across the world by Yunus Social Business, the umbrella organisation that he heads now. These are spread across 12 countries in four continents, 60 of them in Bangladesh itself.
Message for India
Yunus has a strong message for India too. He feels that Indian micro-finance companies should not try to become full-fledged banks. “The moment you become a full-service bank from being a banker to the poor, you become a banker to the rich,” he says. He agrees with the policy of MFIs getting the licence to start “small banks”.
Yunus feels that as long as a micro-finance institution remains a social enterprise owned by borrowers and members, it will work. “Investors need to make profits,” he says, and points out that the moment there are other investors on board, the management will have to take care of the interest of the investors over those of the borrowers.
“The risk and attraction of making money is huge and the mirco-finance business will slowly become smaller and smaller,” Yunus adds.
While he feels that the classical microfinance model flourishes in Kerala, banks that follow his principles and bear the Grameen brand name have also worked out well in other countries. Grameen America already has 20 branches, including seven in New York, and serves 1,00,000 people. These are among the many reasons for Yunus to keep travelling the world.
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//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/62772007.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
QUOTED: "Credit is very important. If you look at the world today, I would say probably two-thirds of the world population does not have access to financial services. But that's the first thing that we should take care of. Money begets money. If you don't have that, you wait around to be hired by somebody at the mercy of others. If you have that money in your hand, you desperately try to make the best use of it and move ahead. And that's generating income for yourself."
"All human beings are very creative—full of potential, full of energy...So, money kind of allows them to express it ... And if you're successful, you can take more money. You can expand your capacity, reach next level of capacity, and so on."
Q&A with Muhammad Yunus
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Dr. Muhammad Yunus
Dr. Muhammad Yunus is known throughout the world as a pioneer of the microcredit concept that uses small loans made at affordable interest rates to transform the lives of impoverished people, mostly women. The founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, Yunus and Grameen were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.
This is a longer, edited transcript of the broadcast interview.
NOW: You said that credit is a human right. Others say it's a responsibility and not everybody deserves credit. Can you explain why you believe credit is a human right and why everyone should be able to have access to it?
MUHAMMAD YUNUS (MY): Well, we have a list of human rights—right to food, right to shelter, right to health, right to education, many such items which are considered and accepted as bill of rights. These are to be insured to people. So all nations, all societies try to do that. And who is going to bring food to a person who is hungry? Who is going to bring the shelter to a homeless person? Of course you say, government should do it. And even if government tried its best, how many are they going to reach?
So I was proposing to put a right to credit. It's also a human right, so that people can create their self-employment with that money. If they can create income for themselves, they can take care of right to food, right to shelter much more easily than government can ever do it.
NOW: How important is credit to human development?
If you have that money in your hand, you desperately try to make the best use of it and move ahead.
MY: Credit is very important. If you look at the world today, I would say probably two-thirds of the world population does not have access to financial services. But that's the first thing that we should take care of. Money begets money. If you don't have that, you wait around to be hired by somebody at the mercy of others. If you have that money in your hand, you desperately try to make the best use of it and move ahead. And that's generating income for yourself.
All human beings are very creative—full of potential, full of energy...So, money kind of allows them to express it ... And if you're successful, you can take more money. You can expand your capacity, reach next level of capacity, and so on.
NOW: What's wrong with charity? What's wrong with the traditional donor-driven aid projects?
MY: Four years back, we started a program exclusively for beggars. Because many people are arguing that the poorest people don't have the capacity to go into business, earn money. I always argued the other way. I said, "All human beings are born entrepreneurs. Some get a chance to unleash that capacity. Some never got the chance, never knew that he or she has that capacity."
So in order to address the debate, I thought we should demonstrate it. So we came up with this idea. Why don't we focus on the beggars? So we go to the beggars and explain, "As you go from house to house, would you take some merchandise with you, some cookies, some candy, some toys, some sweets?" And then you give people option [of] whether they will give you something as charity or they will buy something from you. It's up to them to decide.
Today we have 100,000 beggars in that program. Typical loan for beggars is in the neighborhood of 12 to 15 dollars. Over four years, the loan that we have given out to them, more than half that money has already been paid back. It's a non-interest bearing loan. You don't have to pay the interest so that you don't worry about money growing in your hand. It won't grow, so take your time. Only thing is, if you pay us back fully you get more money.
The point here is, I could have given them 12 or 15 dollars as a gift, as a charity. Would they have paid back? Would they have created this? More than 10,000 of them out of 100,000 have stopped begging completely. They are now door-to-door salespersons. The remaining 90 percent, I can probably say that they are part-time beggars, in the process of kind of closing down their begging division and concentrating on their sales division of their work.
Many have taken the second loan and the third loan already. So this is the difference between what I would've given by charity. I could've given each one $15. They would have eaten better or bought some of the things they needed and used it and probably come back and say, "Can you give us some more because this is all gone?"
I'm not saying charity's a bad thing, bad. No, charity's very important. But charity has a time and place where he can be. Not every situation should be addressed by charity. And charity always has to be a temporary phenomenon, not a permanent solution.
NOW: What impact have you seen through your work? And what do you see it capable of doing in the future?
MY: First of all, a person who can handle credit—one thing right away happens to her. She becomes more confident in herself than she was before. It's confidence level: "Yes, I can handle it. I'm capable of doing something on my own. I'm in [the] driver's seat of my own life."
So this is very important for a human being to move gradually up. It may lead to getting out of poverty. May, may not, but this is important for a person to understand that, "I can take care of myself."
Today we have 7.2 million borrowers. And the bank is owned by the borrowers. So ownership of a giant bank is also something very important to them. It's an ownership thing.
Of these 7.2 million borrowers, as I said, 97 percent are women. For them, a bank account is something unheard of. Now not only [do] they have a bank account, 67 percent of the total deposit comes from their own money. So technically what is happening when I'm dealing a $100 loan, $67 out of that loan—it's her own money.
And then we give housing loans. We have student loans, student loans for going for higher education. Right now we have over 18,000 students in medical schools, engineering schools, universities, with Grameen bank loans. So you are creating a completely new generation.
And our idea is, of this 7.2 million families that we have, at least these children will not go back to the same level that their parents were—who lived in the cycle of poverty.
NOW: Let's talk about the wide scale effect. Do you feel like microcredit is making a dent in lifting people out of poverty and reducing people's suffering?
MY: That's a research question... and Grameen Bank has been a subject of research for many, many years now. Volumes have been written about it. PhDs have been made out of it.
So all of them say this common thing, that income level is rising, abilities promoting. And people are coming out of poverty. Even the World Bank study said 5 percent of the Grameen borrowers get out of poverty every year—which means, every day, every week more and more families are getting out. Our own internal surveys—which we do every year—say that about 64 percent of the Grameen borrowers who have been with Grameen Bank for five years or more have come out of poverty in 2006.
And at the same time the children of those families hopefully will push the family far away from the poverty line. Even disasters like floods and other things will not push them back into poverty again—so that they can create a completely different life for themselves.
So I would say that—within Bangladesh, today—80 percent of the poor families have access to microcredit—which is the most intensively done microcredit in the whole world. Within say, another four years, we would like to reach 100 percent of poor families with microcredit.
All human beings are born entrepreneurs. Some get a chance to unleash that capacity. Some never got the chance, never knew that he or she has that capacity
Probably all countries of the world have microcredit programs today in one form or another, but very small. Eighty-five percent of the microcredit loan recipients are within Asia, probably 10 percent Africa, five percent in Latin America. It doesn't make a big national impact.
In Bangladesh, it has made national impact because it's so intensively done. We could take care of the disasters, for example, much better than we used to do two or three years back, because people didn't have any access to financing for themselves... So the impact will come when you are reaching out to more.
What happened to the families who have been consistently with microcredit for a sustained number of years? That's the impact that you'll see. And Bangladesh is a good case where you can see that. You can see the positive impact on those families, very positive impact.
NOW: What do you think is the appropriate relationship between profit and the poor?
MY: I talk about a basic fault in the system that we developed—what is known as free market economy or a capitalist economy. In the capitalist economic theoretical framework, you have only one kind of business, business to make money. There's no other kind of business.
And profit maximization is the sole goal of business. So if you are in business, you are concentrating on maximization of your profit. That's what the theory says and that's what you try to achieve. And I think this is a very wrong way to interpret human beings. Human beings are not robots or money-making machines.
Human beings are much bigger than that. There are other aspects like the caring human being, the sharing human being. These are not included in this theory. So the theory is based on a very partial view of human being.
In order to accommodate the whole of human being—one first step would be to create another kind of business: business to do good to people without any expectation of any personal benefit out of it.
Once you have this two kinds of businesses, then you have balance ... and you can build a whole economy on the basis of that. Microcredit can exemplify the whole thing right here. You could build microfinance program, either as a profit-maximizing company or as a social business company. It's up to you to choose.
If you are doing it as a profit-maximizing company, of course you want to raise it as high as possible so that you can make money. So that becomes the traditional way of lending money to the poor, which is money lending. And that's what they do. Whether you like it or not, when they lend you money—100 pesos in the morning and ask for 120 pesos in the evening, 20 percent per day—they are just trying to take advantage of the market, and it's a good market to make a lot of money. And people get money to do some business.
But what you are doing, you are taking away their income because you want to [maximize] your profit. Our work, Grameen's work [began] to remove money lenders so that people can retain their own income by their own effort, so that the business can come which will help them to retain their own money, own income, so that they can move out of poverty quicker.
So we designed it as a social business, a social business where you don't do it for dividends... If the borrowers, the poor people themselves are the owners of their program, or the owners of the company, then no matter how much profit they make it goes back to them because they are the owners of the company. So that becomes a social business also.
So this Grameen Bank is owned by the borrowers. Last year in 2006, we made profit enough to give our shareholders 100 percent.
So it's a question of how you want to design it. I would not prefer that the microcredit, microfinance, be a profit-maximizing business because that's not where our starting point is. We want it to help people get out poverty. If you are squeezing out everything [just] like the money lenders, then that objective is removed. The objective is very different. It is not a social objective. It's a very personal objective.
Muhammad Yunus - Biographical
"Banker to the Poor"
Professor Muhammad Yunus established the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh in 1983, fueled by the belief that credit is a fundamental human right. His objective was to help poor people escape from poverty by providing loans on terms suitable to them and by teaching them a few sound financial principles so they could help themselves.
From Dr. Yunus' personal loan of small amounts of money to destitute basketweavers in Bangladesh in the mid-70s, the Grameen Bank has advanced to the forefront of a burgeoning world movement toward eradicating poverty through microlending. Replicas of the Grameen Bank model operate in more than 100 countries worldwide.
Born in 1940 in the seaport city of Chittagong, Professor Yunus studied at Dhaka University in Bangladesh, then received a Fulbright scholarship to study economics at Vanderbilt University. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Vanderbilt in 1969 and the following year became an assistant professor of economics at Middle Tennessee State University. Returning to Bangladesh, Yunus headed the economics department at Chittagong University.
From 1993 to 1995, Professor Yunus was a member of the International Advisory Group for the Fourth World Conference on Women, a post to which he was appointed by the UN secretary general. He has served on the Global Commission of Women's Health, the Advisory Council for Sustainable Economic Development and the UN Expert Group on Women and Finance.
Professor Yunus is the recipient of numerous international awards for his ideas and endeavors, including the Mohamed Shabdeen Award for Science (1993), Sri Lanka; Humanitarian Award (1993), CARE, USA; World Food Prize (1994), World Food Prize Foundation, USA; lndependence Day Award (1987), Bangladesh's highest award; King Hussein Humanitarian Leadership Award (2000), King Hussien Foundation, Jordan; Volvo Environment Prize (2003), Volvo Environment Prize Foundation, Sweden; Nikkei Asia Prize for Regional Growth (2004), Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan; Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom Award (2006), Roosevelt Institute of The Netherlands; and the Seoul Peace Prize (2006), Seoul Peace Prize Cultural Foundation, Seoul, Korea. He is a member of the board of the United Nations Foundation.
From Les Prix Nobel. The Nobel Prizes 2006, Editor Karl Grandin, [Nobel Foundation], Stockholm, 2007
This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and later published in the book series Les Prix Nobel/ Nobel Lectures/The Nobel Prizes. The information is sometimes updated with an addendum submitted by the Laureate.
Recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, Professor Muhammad Yunus is internationally recognized for his work in poverty alleviation and the empowerment of poor women. Professor Yunus has successfully melded capitalism with social responsibility to create the Grameen Bank, a microcredit institution committed to providing small amounts of working capital to the poor for self-employment. From its origins as an action-research project in 1976, Grameen Bank has grown to provide collateral-free loans to 7.5 million clients in more than 82,072 villages in Bangladesh and 97% of whom are women.
Over the last two decades, Grameen Bank has loaned out over 6.5 billion dollars to the poorest of the poor, while maintaining a repayment rate consistently above 98%. The innovative approach to poverty alleviation pioneered by Professor Yunus in a small village in Bangladesh has inspired a global microcredit movement reaching out to millions of poor women from rural South Africa to inner city Chicago. His autobiography, "Banker to the Poor: Microlending and the Battle Against World Poverty," has been translated in French, Italian, Spanish, English, Japanese, Portuguese, Dutch, Gujarati, Chinese, German, Turkish and Arabic.
FIFTIETH YUNUS CENTRE LAUNCHED IN ASHOKA UNIVERSITY, DELHI
Press Release (08 April, 2018)
Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, Chairman of Yunus Centre and Mr Sankar Krishnan, Pro-VC of Ashoka University of India are signing an MoU to establish Yunus Social Business Centre (YSBC) at the university on behalf of their respective institutions.
Ashoka University of India signed an MoU with Yunus Centre to establish Yunus Social Business Centre (YSBC) at the university. Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus signed the MoU on behalf of Yunus Centre on 6th of April, 2018 during his India visit. Ashoka is the 50th University which signed MoU in order to establish an YSBC; other YSBCs in 49 universities are located across 28 countries. Ashoka is a private university aimed at giving world class education with social orientation. The YSBC will bring social business courses and practice into the curiculum of the university. There are two global events around the social business academia network each year to review and brainstorm on the development of the field.
Professor Yunus delivered a public lecture on the ‘Role of education in changing the world’, where people of different sections of society attended. Professor Muhammad Yunus also conducted a masterclass on social business at Ashoka Universiy where students and faculties attended with much enthusiasm. Professor Yunus also planted a tree at the campus premise to mark the formal launching of the centre.
Earlier a dinner was hosted in honour of Professor Yunus at the residence of the French ambassador to India, Mr Alexandre Ziegler. The ambassador welcomed Professor Yunus and introduced to him about 50 CEOs of leading French companies who are operating in India and business leaders of India who are interested in social business idea. Professor Yunus addressed the gathering updating them on the participation of large companies in France and India in social businesses. He also answered their questions.
The ambassador expressed his thanks to Professor Yunus for playing an important role in bringing Olympic 2024 to Paris, and congratulated him for receiving the honorary citizenship of Paris. French ambassador proposed to make this get-together an annual event to bring the French and Indian business community together to get involved in social business; he would like to host such an event if Professor Yunus would agree to attend it.
ABOUT PROFESSOR YUNUS :: EDUCATION
Yunus studied at his village school in the early years. When his family moved to Chittagong, he enrolled in the Lamabazar Primary School. Later, he studied at Chittagong Collegiate School and passed the matriculation examination, in which he secured the 16th position among 39,000 students in East Pakistan During his school years, he was active in the Boy Scouts, and travelled to West Pakistan and India in 1952. In 1955, he attended the World Scouts Jamboree in Canada as part of the Pakistan contingent. On the way back, he travelled through Europe and Asia by road. Next, Yunus enrolled into Chittagong College where he was active in cultural activies and got awards for acting in dramas.
In 1957, he enrolled in the department of economics at Dhaka University and completed his BA in 1960 and MA in 1961. Following his graduation, Yunus joined in the Bureau of Economics. There he worked as research assistant to the economical researchs of Professor Nurul Islam and Rehman Sobhan . Later he was appointed as a lecturer in economics in Chittagong College and joined there in 1961.
He obtained his Ph.D. in economics from Vanderbilt University in the United States in 1969 after getting a Fulbright scholarship. From 1969 to 1972, Yunus was an assistant professor of economics at Middle Tennessee State University before moving back to Bangladesh, where he joined Chittagong University as an economics professor.
Yunus first got involved in fighting poverty during a 1974 famine in Bangladesh. He discovered that very small loans could make a disproportionate difference to a poor person.
 His first loan consisted of US$27 from his own pocket, which he lent to women in the village of Jobra near Chittagong University who made bamboo furniture. They had to take out usurious loans in order to buy bamboo. They then sold these items to the moneylenders to repay them. With a net profit of 5 Bangladeshi taka (.02 USD), the women were unable to support their families. However, traditional banks were not interested in making tiny loans at more reasonable interest rates to poor people, who were considered repayment risks.
During this time, he established a rural economic programme as a research project. In 1974, he developed a Tebhaga Khamar (three share farm) which the government adopted as the Packaged Input Programme. In order to make the project more effective, Yunus and his associates proposed another project called 'Gram Sarkar' (the village government). The government adopted it in 1980, but the succeeding regime later lifted it away.
CV OF PROFESSOR MUHAMMAD YUNUS
Curriculum Vitae of Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, Chairman of Yunus Centre and Founder of Grameen Bank, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Personal Information
Name PROFESSOR MUHAMMAD YUNUS
Present Address Chairman, Yunus Centre
Grameen Bank, Mirpur-2
Dhaka 1216, Bangladesh
E-mail: yunus@yunuscentre.org
Website: www.muhammadyunus.org
Date of Birth June 28, 1940
Marital Status Married
Nationality Bangladeshi
Education Ph.D in Economics, Vanderbilt University, U.S.A.(1970)
Scholarships / Fellowships
Awarded Fulbright Fellowship to study in the U.S.A. for 1965-66.
Awarded Vanderbilt University research and teaching fellowships during 1966-69.
Awarded Eisenhour Exchange Fellowship for 1984.
Senior Fellow, The Institute of Mediterranean Studies,Universita della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland (2000 - ).
Professional Experiences
1962 - 65 Lecturer of Economics, Chittagong College, Bangladesh
1969 - 72 Assistant Professor of Economics, MTSU, Tennessee, USA
1972 (July-Sept) Deputy Chief, General Economics Division, Planning Commission, Government of Bangladesh.
1972 - 75 Associate Professor of Economics and Head of the Department of Economics, Chittagong University, Bangladesh
1975 - 1989 Professor of Economics, Chittagong University and Director, Rural Economics Programme, Chittagong, Bangladesh
1976 - 1983 Project Director, Grameen Bank Project, Bangladesh
1983 - 2011 Managing Director, Grameen Bank, Bangladesh
1996 (April-June) Cabinet Minister (Advisor) in the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh
2008- present Chairman, Yunus Centre, Bangladesh
2012 - 2016 (June) Chancellor, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK
2015 – Present : Adjunct Professor, La Trobe Business School, in the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law, Australia
Membership of Committees and Commissions (National)
Was member, National Committee on Population Policy set up by the President of Bangladesh, in 1981.
Was member, Land Reform Committee, set up by Chief Martial Law Administrator, headed by the Minister of Agriculture, in 1982.
Member, Education Commission (1987-88), Government of Bangladesh.
Member, Presidential Committee on Health Education and Service (1987-88).
Appointed as the Chairman of the Socio-economic Committee of the National Disaster Prevention Council set up by the President of Bangladesh (1989-90).
Member of the National Debt Settlement Board headed by the President of Bangladesh (1989-90).
Member of the Task Force for reviewing the operation of the Nationalised Commercial Banks (1989).
Appointed as the Convener of the Task Force on Self-Reliance set up by the Planning Advisor (1991).
Member of the National ICT Task Force Committee, Ministry of Planning, Bangladesh (2002 - ).
Membership of Committees and Commissions (International)
Appointed by the Secretary General of the United Nations as a member of the International Advisory Group for the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China (1993-1995).
Appointed as a member of the Global Commission on Women's Health for the period 1993-1995 by the Director General, World Health Organisation, Geneva, Switzerland.
Appointed as member of Advisory Council for Sustainable Economic Development, World Bank, Washington DC, USA (1993-to-date).
Appointed as member of the UN Expert Group on Women and Finance: Transforming Enterprise and Finance Systems, UNIFEM, Washington DC, USA (1993 to date).
Chairman of the Policy Advisory Group for the CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest), World Bank , Washington D.C., U.S.A. (1995 - 2000).
Member of the Council of Patrons of Friends of the Earth International, Amsterdam, Netherlands to support it in its continued campaigns to protect the environment (1996).
Member of the Advisory Committee, Asian Ecotechnology Network.
Co-Chairman , State of the World Forum, San Francisco, U.S.A. (1996 - ).
Co-Chairman, Council of Practitioners, Micro-Credit Summit, U.S.A. (1997 - ).
Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee, Center of Arab Women For Training And Research (CAWTAR), Tunisia (1997 - ).
Member of the Advisory Group, Institute For Democracy And Electoral Assistance (IDEA), Sweden (1997 - ).
Honourary Member, Club of Budapest, London, U.K. ( 1997 - ).
Member of the Advisory Group, Council of Women World Leaders, Kennedy Schools of Government Harvard University, U.S.A. (1997 - ).
Member of the Advisory Committee, 2020 Vision for Food, Agriculture and the Environment initiative, IFPRI, U.S.A. (1998 - ).
Member of the Advisory Committee, INTERNEWS, Arcata, San Francisco, U.S.A. (1999 - ).
Member of the International Consultative Committee, International Forum, Mujeres & Hombres, Lima, Peru (1999 - ).
Member, AGFUND Prize Committee, AGFUND, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (1999 - ).
Member, Hilton Humanitarian Prize Jury Committee, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, U.S.A. (1999 - ).
Member of the Presiding Council of the ProVention Consortium (a global partnership to address the increasing vulnerability of developing countries to the risk of natural and technological catastrophes), World Bank, Washington DC, U.S.A. (2000 - to-date).
Member of the High Council of International Exhibitions, International Bureau of Expositions, Paris, France (2000 - ).
Member of the High-Level Advisory Group on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), United Nations, New York, U.S.A. (2000 - ).
Member, Advisory Committee, Queen Sofia Chamber Orchestra (Orquestra de Camara Reina Sofia), Madrid, Spain (2001 - ).
Member, Global Steering Committee for the Fish for All Initiative, ICLARM, Malaysia (2002 - ).
Member, International Jury Committee of the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development, Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust, India (2002 - 2004).
Co-Chairman, Ambassadors' Council, Freedom from Hunger, U.S.A. (2003 - to-date).
Member, Africa Progress Panel, UK (2007 - to-date).
Member, Elders Project, South Africa (2007 - to-date).
Co-Chairman, Women's World Forum, Republic of Korea (2007 - to-date)
Member, Foundation Board of the Global Humanitarian Forum, Geneva, Switzerland (2007 -to-date)
Member of the UN Secretary-General Network of Men Leaders, U.S.A, (2008-to-date) which aims to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls in all parts of the world
Member, MDG Advocacy Group, Focus on MDG 8 (global partnership for development), New York, U.S.A (2010-to-date)
Founding Commissioner, Broadband Commission for Digital Development Switzerland (2010-to- date)
Member, myclimate Patronage Committee, Switzerland, (2010-to-date)
Member, U.S. Department of State International Council on Women Business Leadership (ICWBL) Subcommittee on Access to Capital., U.S.A. (2012-to-date)
Member of the Executive Secretary’s 2015 Council of UN Climate Change Secretariat (2015 - to-date)
Awarded the Honorary Membership of Miraikan – The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation at Tokyo, Japan on March 27, 2018
Member, Board of Advisors (International)
Calmeadow Foundation, 4 Kind Street West, Suite 300, Toronto, Ontario M5H 1B6, Canada.
The Synergose Institute, 100 East 85th Street, New York, NY10028 U.S.A.
Living Economics, 42 Warriner Gardens, London SW11 4DU, U.K.
International Council for Freedom From Hunger, U.S.A.
International Council, Ashoka Foundation, Washington DC, USA.
Advisory Council, Women for Women of Bosnia, Washington DC, USA.
Advisory Board, The Center For Visionary Leadership, Washington D.C., U.S.A.
International Advisory Board, Council on Foreign Relations, New York, U.S.A.
International Advisory Board, Foundation for the Research of Societal Problems Ankara, Turkey.
Advisory Board, Credit for All, Inc. Denver, U.S.A
Advisory Board, The Gleitsman Foundation International Activist Award, California, U.S.A.
International Council, Asia Society, New York, U.S.A.
International Advisory Panel, UNESCO, Paris, France.
International Advisory Board, The Center For Visionary Leadership, Washington D.C. U.S.A.
International Council on the Future, UNESCO, Paris, France.
Global Advisory Board, EARTH ONE (a radio service for the world community) Borehamwood, United Kingdom.
Global Public Goods Advisory Board, Office of Development Studies, UNDP, New York, U.S.A
Advisory Board, Information Technologies and International Development, MIT Media Laboratory, Cambridge, U.S.A.
Advisory Board, Foundation for Entrepreneurship, Germany.
Advisory Panel, ESCAP/UNDP Joint Initiative in Supporting the Achievement of Millennium Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific Region, Thailand.
Founder Member, The Global Academy for Social Entrepreneurship, Ashoka, U.S.A.
Advisory Board, Prague Institute for Global Urban Development, Czechoslovakia.
Honorary Advisory Council, Alliance for the New Humanity (ANH), U.S.A.
Advisory Council for the new Templeton Freedom Awards, Atlas Economic Research Foundation , U.S.A
Advisory Board, Holcim Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland.
Advisory Board, Mahatma Gandhi Center for Global Nonviolence, Virginia, U.S.A
Honorary Board Member, Center for International Studies Micro- Credit Program, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
Honorary Board Member, SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, the Netherlands.
Advisory Board Member, “Global Health Agenda for Girls†project at the Center for Global Development, Washington D.C., U.S.A.
Advisory Board Member, Multimedia Super Corridor Malaysia International Advisory Panel (IAP), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Member, Advisory Committee, Ritsumeikan Asian Pacific University, Japan.
Founder, Grameen Creative Lab, Germany
Co-Chairperson, Governing Board, Yunus Centre, AIT,Thailand
Lead Advisory Scholar, Okan University Muhammad Yunus International Centre for Microfinance and Social Business, Turkey
Founder, Yunus Social Business GmbH, Germany
Member of the Advisory Council, AGFUND Microfinance Bank, Saudi Arabia
Member of the Advisory Board of International University of Japan's Graduate School of International Management (GSIM), Japan
Member of the International Advisory Council (IAC) of Fundação Dom Cabral (FDC) university, Brazil
Member of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG ) Advocacy Group chaired by the Secretary General of United Nations, for the promotion and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. On January 21, 2016.
Appointed as Commissioner for the UN Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth in March, 2016
Member of the “FAO Nobel Laureates Alliance for Peace and Food Security” of FAO, Rome, May, 2016
Member of the Hiroshima Global Academy International Advisory Board. Hiroshima Prefectural Government, Tokyo, Japan on March 28, 2018
Member, Board of Directors (National)
1976 - 1983 Founder and Project Director, Grameen Bank Project.
1983 - 2011 Founder and Managing Director, Grameen Bank, Dhaka.
1991 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Krishi (Agriculture) Foundation, Rangpur.
1990 - to-date Founder and Executive Trustee, Grameen Trust, Dhaka.
1990 - to-date Designer and member of Governing Body, Polli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), Dhaka.
1979 - to-date Member, Board of Directors, Centre for Mass Education for Science, Dhaka.
1994 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Fund (a Social Venture Capital Fund), Dhaka.
1994 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Motsho (Fisheries)O PasuSampad (Livestock) Foundation, Dhaka.
1994 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Uddog, a non-stock, non-profit organization dedicated to promote the interest of the handloom-weavers of Bangladesh.
1995 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Telecom, a cellular telephone company to provide nationwide telephone service. It will provide telephone service in the rural areas of Bangladesh primarily through the poor women in rural areas.
1995 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Shamogree (Products), Dhaka.
1995 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Gona Shyastha Grameen Textile Mills Ltd., Dhaka.
1996 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Cybernet, Dhaka.
1996 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Communications, Dhaka.
1996 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Kallyan (well-being), Dhaka.
1996 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Shakti (energy), Dhaka.
1996 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Yunus Foundation, Dhaka.
1996 - to-date Member, Advisory Council of the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, Dhaka.
1997 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Shikkha (Education), Dhaka.
1997 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Knitwear Ltd., Dhaka.
1998 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Capital Management Ltd, Dhaka.
1999 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Software Ltd, Dhaka.
2000 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen IT Park Ltd, Dhaka.
2002 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Star Education Ltd, Dhaka.
2002 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Information Highways Ltd, Dhaka.
2007 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Danone Food Ltd, Bangladesh
2007 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Green Children Eye-Care Hospital
2008 - to-date Founder and Chairman, BASF Grameen Ltd.
2008 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Yunus Centre, Dhaka
2009 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing
2009 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Veolia Water Ltd, Bangladesh
Member, Board of Directors (International)
1987 - 1997 Board of Directors, RESULTS, A Citizen's Lobby, Washington DC, U.S.A.
1987 - 1995 Board of Trustees, Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (A Grameen Replication Project in Malaysia.)
1989 - 1994 Board of Trustees of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines.
1990 - to-date Chief Patron, Credit and Savings for Hardcore Poor, (CASHPOR), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
1990 - 1992 Steering Committee, The Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Geneva, Switzerland.
1992 - 2002 Board of Directors, Calvert World Values Fund, Washington DC, USA.
1993 - to-date Board of Directors, Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA), U.S.A.
1995 - to-date International Crisis Group, Washington D.C., U.S.A.
1996 - to-date Patron, United Kingdom Social Investment Forum, London,U.K.
1998 - to-date Board of Directors, United Nations Foundation , Washington, U.S.A.
2000 - to-date Founding Patron, C21: Tomorrow’s Leaders for a Safer Planet, Oxford Research Group , Oxford, United Kingdom.
2001 - to-date Board of Directors, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship , Cologny, Switzerland.
2002 - to-date Board of Director, ManyOne Foundation, Canada.
2006 - to-date Board of Trustees, Coexist Foundation, University of Cambridge, UK.
2007 - to-date Board of Director, Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, Monaco.
2007- to -date Board of Directors, Chirac Foundation, France.
2007- to -date Board of Directors, Grameen Danone Food Ltd, Bangladesh.
2007- to -date Board of Directors, Danone Communities Fund, France.
2007- to -date Board of Directors, Sing For Hope, New York, U.S.A.
2008- to -date Board of Directors, Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation, Luxemoburg.
Awards:
BANGLADESH
President's Award: 1978
Originator of the concept of Three share Farming (Tebhaga Khamar) as a joint farming operation. Organised Nabajug Tebhaga Khamar in Jobra, Chittagong in 1975, around a deep tubewell which was lying unused because of management problems. Government of Bangladesh adopted the concept and introduced it in the country under the name of "Packaged Input Programme" (PIP) in 1977. Nabajug Tebhaga Khamar was awarded President's Award in 1978 for introducing an innovative organisation in agriculture.
PHILIPPINES
Ramon Magsaysay Award: 1984
Awarded Ramon Magsaysay Award in the Field of "Community Leadership" in 1984 for "Enabling the neediest rural men and women to make themselves productive with sound group managed credit."
BANGLADESH
Central Bank Award: 1985
Awarded the Bangladesh Bank Award 1985 in recognition of the contribution in devising a new banking mechanism to extend credit to the rural landless population, thereby creating self employment and socio economic development for them.
BANGLADESH
Independence Day award: 1987
Awarded the Independence Day Award, 1987, by the President for the outstanding contribution in rural development. This is the highest civilian national award of Bangladesh.
SWITZERLAND
Aga Khan Award For Architecture: 1989
Awarded Aga Khan Award For Architecture, 1989 by Geneva based Aga Khan Foundation for designing and operating Grameen Bank Housing Programme for the poor, which helped poor members of Grameen Bank to construct 60,000 housing units by 1989, each costing on an average $ 300.
U.S.A.
Humanitarian Award: 1993
Awarded 1993 Humanitarian Award by the CARE, U.S.A. in recognition of role in providing a uniquely pragmatic and effective method of empowering poor women and men to embark on income generating activities.
SRI LANKA
Mohamed Sahabdeen Award for Science (Socio Economic): 1993
Awarded Mohamed Sahabdeen Award for Science (Socio Economic) in 1993.
BANGLADESH
Rear Admiral M. A. Khan Memorial Gold Medal Award: 1993
Awarded Rear Admiral Mahbub Ali Khan Memorial Gold Medal Award in 1993.
U.S.A.
World Food Prize: 1994
Awarded 1994 World Food Prize by World Food Prize Foundation, U.S.A. in recognition of the lifetime achievements of an economist who created a bank loan system that has given millions of people access to adequate food and nutrition for the first time in their lives.
U.S.A.
Pfeffer Peace Prize: 1994
Awarded 1994 Pfeffer Peace Prize by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, U.S.A. for his vision of non collateral lending through the Grameen Bank and the courage of persevere in the concept that credit is a human right.
BANGLADESH
Dr. Mohammad Ibrahim Memorial Gold Medal Award: 1994
Awarded Dr. Mohammad Ibrahim Memorial Gold Medal Award in 1994.
MALAYSIA : Tun Abdul Razak Award : 1994
Awarded 1994 Tun Abdul Razak Award for the Bank's unique programme to lend money to the poorest of the poor and thus transform the lives of thousands of impoverished people.
SWITZERLAND
Max Schmidheiny Foundation Freedom Prize: 1995
Awarded Max Schmidheiny Foundation Freedom Prize in 1995.
BANGLADESH
RCMD Award: 1995
Awarded Rotary Club of Metropolitan Dhaka Foundation Award in 1995.
VENEZUELA & UNESCO
International Simon Bolivar Prize: 1996
Awarded International Simon Bolivar Prize in 1996.
U.S.A.
"Distinguished Alumnus Award" of Vanderbilt University: 1996
Awarded "Distinguished Alumnus Award" of Vanderbilt University in 1996.
U.S.A.
International Activist Award: 1997
Awarded International Activist Award Gleitsman Foundation, U.S.A., in 1997.
GERMANY
Planetary Consciousness Business Innovation Prize: 1997
Awarded "Planetary Consciousness Business Innovation Prize" by the club of Budapest in 1997.
NORWAY
Help for self help Prize: 1997
Awarded "Help for self help Prize" by the Stromme Foundation in 1997.
ITALY
Man for Peace Award: 1997
Awarded "Man for Peace Award" by the Together For Peace Foundation in 1997.
U.S.A.
State of the World Forum Award: 1997
Awarded "State of the World Forum Award" by the State of the World Forum, San Francisco in 1997.
U.K.
One World Broadcasting Trust Media Awards: 1998
Awarded One World Broadcasting Trust Special Award†by the One World Broadcasting Trust in 1998.
SPAIN
The Prince of Austurias Award for Concord: 1998
Awarded The Prince of Austurias Award for Concord by The Prince of Austurias Foundation in 1998.
AUSTRALIA
Sydney Peace Prize: 1998
Awarded Sydney Peace Prize by the Sydney Peace Foundation in 1998.
JAPAN
Ozaki (Gakudo) Award : 1998
Awarded Ozaki (Gakudo) Award by the Ozaki Yukio Memorial Foundation in 1998.
INDIA
Indira Gandhi Prize: 1998
Awarded Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development by the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust in 1998.
FRANCE
Juste of the Year Award: 1998
Awarded "Juste of the Year" by the Les Justes D'or in 1998.
U.S.A.
Rotary Award for World Understanding: 1999
Awarded Rotary Award for World Understanding by the Rotary International in 1999.
ITALY
Golden Pegasus Award: 1999
Awarded Golden Pegasus Award by the TUSCAN Regional Government in 1999.
ITALY
Roma Award for Peace and Humanitarian Action: 1999
Awarded Roma Award for Peace and Humanitarian Action by the Municipality of Rome in 1999.
INDIA
Rathindra Puraskar: 1998
Awarded Rathindra Puraskar for 1998 by the Visva-Bharati in 1999.
SWITZERLAND
OMEGA Award of Excellence for Lifetime Achievement: 2000
Awarded OMEGA Award of Excellence for Lifetime Achievement in 2000.
ITALY
Award of the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Senate: 2000
Awarded The Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Senate in 2000.
JORDAN
King Hussein Humanitarian Leadership Award: 2000
Awarded "King Hussein Humanitarian Leadership Award" by the King Hussein Foundation in 2000.
BANGLADESH
"IDEB Gold Medal" Award: 2000
Awarded IDEB Gold Medal Award by the Institute of Diploma Engineers in 2000.
ITALY
"Artusi" Prize : 2001
Awarded "Artusi" prize by Comune di Forlimpopoli in 2001.
JAPAN
Grand Prize of the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize: 2001
Awarded "Grand Prize of the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize " by the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize Committee in 2001.
VIETNAM
Ho Chi Minh Award: 2001
Awarded Ho Chi Minh Award by the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee in 2001.
SPAIN
International Cooperation Prize Caja de Granada: 2001
Awarded International Cooperation Prize Caja de Granada Caja de Ahorros de Granada in 2001.
SPAIN
NAVARRA International Aid Award: 2001
NAVARRA International Aid Award by the Autonomous Government of Navarra together with Caja Laboral (Savings Bank) in 2001.
U.S.A
Mahatma Gandhi Award: 2002
Awarded Mahatma Gandhi Award by the M.K Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, in 2002.
U.K.
World Technology Network Award: 2003
Awarded "World Technology Network Award 2003" for Finance by the World Technology Network in 2003.
SWEDEN
Volvo Environment Prize: 2003
Awarded "Volvo Environment Prize 2003" by the Volvo Environment Prize Foundation in 2003.
COLOMBIA
National Merit Order Award: 2003
Awarded "National Merit Order" by the Honorable President of the Republic of Colombia in 2003.
FRANCE
The Medal of the Painter Oswaldo Guayasamin Award: 2003
Awarded "The Medal of the Painter Oswaldo Guayasamin" by the UNESCO in 2003.
SPAIN
Telecinco Award: 2004
Awarded "Telecinco Award for Better Path Towards Solidarity" by the Spanish TV Netwark - Channel 5 in 2004.
ITALY
City of Orvieto Award: 2004
Awarded "City of Orvieto Award" by the Municipality of Orvieto in 2004.
U.S.A.
The Economist Innovation Award: 2004
Awarded "The Economist Award for Social and Economic Innovation" by The Economist in 2004.
U.S.A.
World Affairs Council Award: 2004
Awarded "World Affairs Council Award for Extra-ordinary Contribution to Social Change" by the World Affairs Council of Northern California in 2004.
U.S.A.
Leadership in Social Entrepreneurship Award: 2004
Awarded "Leadership in Social Entrepreneurship Award" by Fuqua School of Business of Duke University, U.S.A. in 2004.
ITALY
Premio Galileo 2000 - Special Prize for Peace: 2004
Awarded "Premio Galileo 2000 - Special Prize for Peace" by Ina Assitalia Fireuze in 2004.
JAPAN
Nikkei Asia Prize: 2004
Awarded "Nikkei Asia Prize for Regional Growth" by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc. (Nikkei) in 2004.
SPAIN
Golden Cross of the Civil Order of the Social Solidarity: 2005
Awarded "Golden Cross of the Civil Order of the Social Solidarity" by the Spanish Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in May, 2005.
U.S.A.
Freedom Award: 2005
Awarded "Freedom Award" by the America's Freedom Foundation, Provo, Utah, U.S.A. in July, 2005.
BANGLADESH
Bangladesh Computer Society Gold Medal: 2005
Awarded "Bangladesh Computer Society Gold Medal" by the Bangladesh Computer Society, Bangladesh in July, 2005.
ITALY
Prize Il Ponte: 2005
Awarded " Prize Il Ponte " by the Fondazione Europea Guido Venosta, Italy in November, 2005.
SPAIN
Foundation of Justice: 2005
Awarded "Foundation of Justice 2005" by the Foundation of Justice, Valencia, Spain in January, 2006.
U.S.A
Harvard University, Neustadt Award: 2006
Awarded "Neustadt Award" by Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, U.S.A. in May, 2006.
U.S.A
Global Citizen of the Year Award: 2006
Awarded "Global Citizen of the Year Award" by Patel Foundation for Global understanding, Tampa, Florida, U.S.A in May, 2006.
NETHERLAND
Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom Award: 2006
Awarded "Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom Award" by Roosevelt Institute, Middleburg, Province of New Zeeland, The Netherlands in May, 2006.
SWITZERLAND
ITU World Information Society Award: 2006
Awarded "ITU World Information Society Award" by International Telecommunication Union, Geneva, Switzerland in May, 2006.
KOREA
Seoul Peace Prize: 2006
Awarded "Seoul Peace Prize 2006" by Seoul Peace Prize Cultural Foundation, Seoul, Korea in October, 2006.
SPAIN
Convivencia (Good Fellowship) of Ceuta Award: 2006
Awarded "Convivencia (Good Fellowship) of Ceuta 2006" by Fundacion Premio Convivencia, Ceuta, Spain in October, 2006.
Norway
Nobel Peace Prize: 2006
Awarded "Nobel Peace Prize 2006" in October, 2006.
INDIA
Disaster Mitigation Award: 2006
Awarded "Disaster Mitigation Award 2006" by FIRST INDIA Disaster Management Congress 2006, Delhi, India in November, 2006.
INDIA
Shera Bangalee:2006
Awarded "SHERA BANGALEE 2006" by ETV, India in February, 2007.
U.S.A
Global Trailblazer Award: 2007
Awarded "Global Trailblazer Award 2007" by the Vital Voices, Washington DC, USA in March, 2007.
U.S.A
ABICC Award For Leadership In Global Trade: 2007
Awarded "ABICC Award For Leadership in Global Trade 2007" by ABICC, Miami, USA in March, 2007.
U.S.A
Social Entrepreneur Award: 2007
Awarded "Social Entrepreneur Award 2007" by the Geoffrey Palmer Center for Social Entrepreneurship and the Law, Pepperdine School of Law, USA in January, 2007.
U.S.A
Global Entrepreneurship Leader Award: 2007
Awarded "Global Entrepreneurship Leader Award 2007" by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, USA in April, 2007.
SPAIN
RED CROSS Gold Medal: 2007
Awarded "Red Cross Gold Medal 2007" by the Red Cross Society, Spain in 2007.
INDIA
Rabindra Nath Tagore Birth Centenary Plaque: 2007
Awarded "Rabindra Nath Tagore Birth Centenary Plaque 2007" by the Asiatic Society, Kolkata, India in May, 2007.
NETHERLAND
EFR-Business Week Award: 2007
Awarded "EFR-Business Week Award 2007" by the University of Rotterdam, The Netherlands in May 2007.
U.S.A.
Nichols-Chancellor Medal: 2007
Awarded "Nichols-Chancellor Medal" by the Vanderbilt University, U.S.A. in May, 2007.
GERMANY
Vision Award: 2007
Awarded "Vision Award 2007" by the Global Economic Network, Berlin, Germany in June, 2007.
U.S.A
BAFI Global Achievement Award: 2007
Awarded "BAFI Global Achievement Award 2007" by the Bangladesh-American Foundation Inc., U.S.A in July, 2007.
U.S.A.
Rubin Museum Mandala Award: 2007
Awarded "Rubin Museum Mandala Award" by the Rubin Museum, USA, October 2007.
INDIA
Sakaal Person of the Year Award: 2007
Awarded "Sakaal Person of the Year Award 2007" by the Sakaal Group of Publications, India in November, 2007.
PHILIPPINES
First AHPADA Global Award: 2007
Awarded "1st AHPADA Global Award" by the ASEAN Handicraft Promotion and Development Association (ASPADA), Philippines in November, 2007.
Brazil
Medal of Honor: 2007
Awarded "Medal of Honor" by the Government, Santa Catrina State, Brazil, November 2007.
U.S.A.
Award for UN South-South Cooperation: 2007
Awarded the "UN South - South Cooperation" by the United Nations, USA, December 2007.
U.S.A.
Project Concern Award: 2008
Awarded "Project Concern Award" by Project Concern International, Santa Barbara, California, January 2008.
New York
International Women's Health Coalition Award: 2008
Awarded "IWHC" Award by the International Women's Health Coalition, February 2008.
Japan
Kitakyushu Environmental Award: 2008
Awarded "The Kitakyushu Environmental Award" by the Mayor of City of Kitakyushu, Japan, February 2008.
U.S.A.
Chancellor's Medal: 2008
Awarded " Chancellor's Medal" by York College, USA, February 2008.
U.S.A.
President's Medal: 2008
Awarded "President's Medal" by Lehman College, USA, March 2008.
U.S.A.
Human Security Award: 2008
Awarded " Human Security Award" by Muslim Public Affairs Council, USA, March 2008.
AUSTRIA
Annual Award for Development: 2008
Awarded "2008 Annual Award for Development" by OPEC Fund for International Development(OFID), Austria, June 2008.
U.S.A.
Humanitarian Award: 2008
Awarded "2008 Humanitarian Award" by The International Association of Lions Clubs, U.S.A., June 2008.
SPAIN
Friend of Children Award: 2008
Awarded "Friend of Children 2008" by Save the Children, Spain, October 2008.
GERMANY
AGI International Science Award: 2008
Awarded "AGI International Science" by University of Cologne, Germany, October 2008.
GERMANY
Corine International Book Award: 2008
Awarded "Corine International Book Award" by the Bavaraian Government for the book, "Creating World Without Poverty", Germany, November 2008.
GERMANY
TWO WINGS prize: 2008
Awarded "TWO WING prize 2008" by the Freie Universitat, Berlin, Germany, November 2008.
USA
Global Humanitarian Awards: 2008
Awarded "Global Humanitarian Awards 2008" by the Tech Museum, San Jose, California, November 2008.
California
World Affairs Council Awards: 2008
Awarded "World Affairs Council Awards 2008" by the World Affairs Council of Northern California, San Francisco, California, November 2008.
USA
Full Impact Award: 2008
Full Circle Fund awarded the Full Impact Award 2008 for his bold, inspiring leadership on November 13, 2008
PORTUGAL
Estoril Global Issues Distinguished Book Prize: 2009
The Estoril Global Issues Distinguished Book Prize was awarded to Muhammad Yunus Creating a world without Poverty. It is the biggest award in the field of international studies. It is awarded on an annual basis to books, which offer outstanding analysis of global issues. May, 2009.
USA
Eisenhower Medal for Leadership and Service: 2009
Awarded the Dwight D. Eisenhower Medal for Leadership and Service from the Eisenhower Fellowships at a ceremony in Philadelphia, May, 2009.
Slovakia
Golden Biatec Award: 2009
Awarded Golden Biatec Award by the Economic Club, Slovakia, June, 2009.
USA
Gold Medal of Honor Award: 2009
Awarded the Gold Medal of Honor Award from the ATLAS, U.S.A, June, 2009.
USA
PICMET Leadership in Technology Management: 2009
Awarded the "PICMET (Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology) Leadership in Technology Management" from PICMET, U.S.A. on August 4, 2009. This award recognizes and honors individuals who have provided leadership in managing technology by establishing a vision, providing a strategic direction, and facilitating the implementation strategies for that vision.
USA
Presidential Medal of Freedom: 2009
Awarded the highest US civilian honor "The Medal of Freedom" by President Barack Obama at White House on August 12, 2009. The Medal of Freedom is awarded to individuals who make an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.
SPAIN
The Sustainable Development Award: 2009
Awarded "The Sustainable Development Award 2009" by Ecology and Development Foundation, Spain on October 22, 2009.
GERMANY
The Bayreuth Leadership Award: 2009
Awarded the "The Bayreuth Leadership Award 2009" by the University of Bayreuth, Wiesbaden, Germany on November 5, 2009 in recognition of work to create opportunities for economic and social development with the aim of eliminating world poverty.
USA
Prize for Ethical Business Award: 2010
Awarded the "Prize for Ethical Business Award 2010" by the Creighton University, Omaha, USA in February, 2010.
USA
Presidential Medallion Award: 2010
Awarded the "Presidential Medallion Award 2010" by the President, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA in March, 2010.
USA
Presidential Medal Award: 2010
Awarded the "Presidential Medal Award 2010" by the Emory University, Atlanta, USA in March, 2010.
SPAIN
SolarWorld Einstein Award 2010
Awarded the "SolarWorld Einstein Award 2010" by the SolarWorld AG, Germany at the 25th European Phtovoltaic Conference in Valencia, Spain on September 6, 2010.
USA
Presidential Medal Award 2010
Awarded the "Presidential Medal Award 2010" by the Miami Dade College, Miami, Florida, Â USA in September, 2010.
USA
Congressional Gold Medal 2010
Awarded the highest civilian honor "Congressional Gold Medal" by US Congress in September, 2010.
PERU
Order of the Sun in the Grade of Grand Cross
Awarded the highest national award given by the Nation of Peru
CHINA
Global Award, the Third China Poverty Eradication Awards: 2010
Awarded Global Award, the Third China Poverty Eradication Awards by The State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development Management, Government of People's Republic of China and China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation in Beijing on October 17, 2010.
U.S.A.
St. Vincent de Paul Award: 2011
Awarded the St. Vincent de Paul Award by DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois on September 23, 2011.
USA
Elon Medal for Entrepreneurial Leadership: 2011
Awarded the Elon University Medal for Entrepreneurial Leadership in 4 April, 2012
CANADA
Equitas Award 2011
Awarded Equitas Award 2011 for Human Rights Education on May 28, 2014 by Equitas – International Centre for Human Rights Education, Canada.
USA
Jean Mayer Global Citizen Award: 2012
Awarded the Jean Mayer Global Citizen Award by the Institute for Global Leadership of Tufts University on April 20, 2012. This award was created to honor Jean Mayer, by challenging and inspiring the students and the University community, by bringing to Tufts distinguished scholars and practitioners whose moral courage, personal integrity, and passion for scholarship resonated his dictum that scholarship, research and teaching must be dedicated to solving the most pressing problems facing the world.
USA
Outstanding Entrepreneur of Our Time and The Best Humanitarian of the Year" by OFC Venture Challenge: 2012
Awarded the Outstanding Entrepreneur of Our Time and the Best Humanitarian of the Year" by OFC Venture Challenge on April 23, 2012.
USA
Transformational Leadership Award: 2012
Awarded the 2012 Transformational Leadership Award from the Wright Foundation for Transformational Leadership on April 27, 2012 in honor of his achievements as a humanitarian and social entrepreneur.
USA
International Freedom Award: 2012
Awarded the 2012 Freedom Award by the National Civil Rights Museum on October 16, 2012 at Memphis, Tennessee as the founder of Grameen Bank for providing collateral-free loans to the poorest of the poor in Bangladesh.
USA
Salute to Greatness Award 2013
Awarded "Salute to Greatness Award 2013" by Martin Luther King Center, USA on January 19, 2013.
USA
Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Award 2013
Awarded “Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Award 2013” by Quinnipiac University, Connecticut, USA on March 6, 2013.
U.K.
Skoll Global Treasure Award 2013
Awarded “Global Treasure Award” by Skoll Foundation, Oxford, UK on April 11, 2013
U.S.A.
The Congressional Gold Medal Award 2013
Awarded the “Congressional Gold Medal” award by the US congress on April 17, 2013. A special bill S. 846 was passed in US congress to award Congressional Gold Medal to Professor Muhammad Yunus by unanimous vote. The Public Law 111-253 for the award was passed in October, 2010.
USA
Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Entrepreneurship, 2013
Awarded Forbes 400 Philanthropy Forum Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Entrepreneurship by Forbes Magazine, USA on June 05, 2013.
U.S.A
Asian American/ Asian Research Leadership Award 2013
Awarded “Asian American/ Asian Research Leadership Award” on November 21, 2013 at the 12th Annual Gala organized by Asian American/Asian Research Institute, City University of New York. USA.
U.S.A
Robert F Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award 2013
Awarded “Robert F Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award” on December 11, 2013 by Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights, USA.
U.S.A
Westmont leadership Award2014
Awarded “Westmont leadership Award” on February 28, 2014 by Westmont College, USA.
U.S.A.
Lotus Leadership Award 2014
Asia Foundation’s Lotus Circle honors Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus on June 18, 2014 with Lotus Leadership Award 2014.
SAUDI ARABIA
Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Global Entrepreneurship Award 2014
Centennial Fund (TCF) honors Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus on November 3, 2014 with Global Entrepreneurship Award 2014.
ALBANIA
Albania Excellence Award
Awarded Albania Excellence Award given by the Association of Albanian Excellence on November 6, 2014
PAKISTAN
International Humanitarian Award
Awarded International Humanitarian Award 2015 by the International Human Rights Commission on January 28, 2015.
CHINA
Distinguished professorship from YNU
Awarded distinguished professorship from Yunnan University, China on October 2015
U.S.A
Women Deliver Award
Women Deliver, a US global NGO presented "The Women Deliver Award for Innovation" at its global conference in Copenhagen for his contribution to the empowerment of women and children education in innovative ways. May, 2016.
U.S.A
George Washington University President’s Medal
Awarded the awarded the George Washington University President’s Medal, the highest honor the university’s president can bestow. George Washington President Steven Knapp presented the award to honor Dr. Yunus for his pioneering work in creating economic development through microcredit during a ceremony at Lisner Auditorium on October 26, 2016.
INDIA
Gold Medal
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi honours Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus for his contribution to the society with a gold medal while inaugurating the 104th Indian Science Congress in Triputi India on January 3, 2017.
Honorary Degrees Received by Professor Muhammad Yunus:
U.K. Awarded a Degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, by the University of East Anglia, U.K., in 1992.
U.S.A. Awarded a Degree of Doctor of Humanities by the Oberlin College, U.S.A. in 1993.
CANADA Awarded a Degree of Doctor of Law, honoris causa, by the University of Toronto, Canada in 1995.
U.S.A. Awarded a Degree of Doctor of Law by the Haverford College, U.S.A. in May, 1996.
U.K. Awarded a Degree of Doctor of Law by the Warwick University, U.K. in July, 1996.
U.S.A. Awarded a Degree of Doctor of Public Service by the Saint Xaviers' University, U.S.A. in May, 1997.
U.S.A. Awarded a Degree of Doctor of Civil Law, Honoris Causa by the University of the South, U.S.A. in January, 1998.
BELGIUM Awarded a Degree of Doctor Honoris Cause by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium in February, 1998.
U.S.A. Awarded a Degree of Doctor of Social Science, honoris causa by the Yale University, U.S.A. in May, 1998.
U.S.A. Awarded a Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa by the Brigham Young University, U.S.A. in August, 1998.
AUSTRALIA Awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science in Economics by the University of Sydney, Australia in November, 1998.
AUSTRALIA Awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of the University by the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia in February, 2000.
ITALY Awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor in Economics and Business (Laurea Honoris Causa) by the University of Turin, Turin, Italy in October, 2000.
U.S.A. Awarded a Degree of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa by the Colgate University, Hamilton, U.S.A. in May 2002.
BELGIUM Awarded a degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University Catholique of Louvain in February, 2003.
ARGENTINA Awarded a Degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the Universitad Nacional De Cuyo in April, 2003.
SOUTH AFRICA Awarded a Degree of Doctor of Economics, honoris Causa by the University of Natal in December 2003.
INDIA Awarded a Degree of Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa by the Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswayvidyalaya, India in February, 2004.
THAILAND Awarded a Degree of Doctor of Technology, Honoris Causa by the Asian Institute of Technology in August, 2004.
ITALY Awarded a Degree of Doctor in Business Economics, Honoris Causa by the University of Florence in September, 2004.
ITALY Awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor in Pedagogyst by the University of Bologna in October, 2004.
SPAIN Awarded a Degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the Universidad Complutense, Madrid in October, 2004.
SOUTH AFRICA Awarded a Honorary Doctorate Degree in Economics by the University of Venda, South Africa in May, 2006.
LEBANON Awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters by the American University of Beirut, Lebanon in June, 2006.
SPAIN Awarded a Doctor of Honoris Causa by the University of Alicante in Valencia, Spain in June, 2006.
SPAIN Awarded a Doctor of Honoris Causa by the University of Valencia, in Valencia, Spain in June, 2006.
SPAIN Awarded a Doctor of Honoris Causa by the University of Jaume I in Valencia, Spain in June, 2006.
BANGLADESH Awarded a Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh in February, 2007.
JAPAN Awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humanities by the Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan in July, 2007.
MALAYSIA Awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Economics by the Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia in August, 2007.
KOREA Awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by the Ewha Womans University in September, 2007.
COSTA RICA Awarded a Doctor of Humanities Honoris Causa Degree by the Earth University in December 2007.
U.S.A. Awarded an Honorary Degree by the Regis University, U.S.A. in March 2008.
CANADA Awarded an Honorary Degree by the University of British Columbia in March 2008.
RUSSIA Awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree by Moscow State University, Russia in April 2008.
ITALY Awarded an Honoris Causa Degree in Science of Cooperation and Development by Sapienza University of Rome, Italy in June, 2008.
U.K. Awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctorate of Letters (D. Litt) in Glasgow Caledonia University, Glasgow, UK in December 2008.
U.K. Awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctorate in University of Glasgow, UK in December 2008.
JAPAN Awarded an Honorary Degree in Kobe University, Japan in March 2009.
U.S.A. Awarded an Honorary Doctors of Law Degree by University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia in May 2009.
JAPAN Awarded an Honorary Degree from Hokkaido University, Japan in September 2009.
TURKEY Awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctorate in Istanbul Commerce University, Istanbul in October 2009.
U.S.A. Received a Doctor of Humane Letters from Duke University, Durham, USA on May 16, 2010.
JAPAN Awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctorate in Kwansei Guakin University, Kobe, Japan on 18 July 2010.
CANADA Awarded a Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada on September 1, 2010.
PERU Awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa from San Ignacio de Loyola University, Lima, Paru on September 27, 2010.
PERU Awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa from Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Paru on September 27, 2010.
BELGIUM Awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa from University of Mons in Mons on October 18, 2010.
U.K. Awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science in Economics from London School of Economics at London on November 24, 2011.
JAPAN Awarded Honorary Degree of Doctorate from Tohoku University, Japan on 11 March, 2012.
U.S.A Awarded Doctor of Humane Letters degree fromTuskegee University, U.S.A. on 12 May, 2012.
U.S.A Awarded the degree of Doctors of Letters from Emory university, U.S.A. on 14 May, 2012.
ALBANIA Awarded the Degree of Doctoris Honoris Causa from the European University of Tirana, Albania on 15 January, 2013.
U.K. Awarded Honorary Degree from University of Salford, Manchester, UK on May 18, 2013.
BOLOVIA Awarded Doctor Honoris Causa from Bolivia University of Aquino in Santa Cruz on 25 October, 2013.
IRELAND Awarded Doctor of Philosophy Honoris Causa from Dublin City University of Republic of Ireland on 18 October, 2014.
BRAZIL Awarded Doctorate Honoris Causa from Federal University of Paraná of Brazil on 3 May, 2015.
U.S.A Awarded “Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters” from Babson College, MA, U.S.A on 14 May, 2016.
INDIA Conferred an Honorary Doctor of Science degree by Chandigarh University, Punjab, India at the Convocation Ceremony of the university on January 8, 2017.
INDIA Awarded Doctor of Philosophy Honoris Causa at Amity University Rajasthan, India on 26 January, 2018
Special Honour:
PHILIPPINES Legislature of Negros Occidental, a province of the Philippines, passed a resolution awarding the status of "Adopted Son of Negros Occidental" for the contribution made to the poorest of the poor of the province, in 1992.
BANGLADESH Chosen by The Daily Star, a daily newspaper of Bangladesh, as the "Man of the Year 1994".
U.S.A.
Was Chosen as the" Person of the Week"
Professor Muhammad Yunus was chosen as the "Person of the Week" by American TV ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings on September 15, 1995 at the conclusion of the World Summit on Women held in Beijing.
This is how Peter Jennings announced the news :
"Finally this evening, our Person of the Week. As we reported elsewhere in this broadcast, the International Women Conference in China is now over. And the women there, from many parts of the world, will go home and try to inspire others to translate all the talking into action which will benefit women. On this final day of the women conference, we choose a man. He was on the agenda of the women conference because he truly understands the value of women."
HONG KONG The ASIAWEEK, a weekly international news magazine has selected as one of the "Twenty Great Asians (1975 1995)".
INDIA The Ananda Bazar Patrika a daily leading newspaper of India has selected as one of the Ten Great Bangalees of the century" (1900-1999).
HONG KONG The ASIAWEEK, a weekly international news magazine has selected as one of the Asians of the Century (1900-1999).
U.S.A The U.S. NEWS a weekly leading news-magazine of U.S.A. has selected as one of the 20 Heroes in the world in 2001.
U.S.A Appointed as an International Goodwill Ambassador for UNAIDS by the United Nations in June, 2002.
BANGLADESH Elected as a Fellow of the Society by the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh in September, 2003.
U.S.A
PBS Documentary : The 25 Most Influential Business Persons of the Past 25 Years
Professor Yunus was chosen by Wharton School of Business for PBS documentary, as one of "The 25 Most Influential Business Persons of the Past 25 Years" Among others were : Bill Gates, George Soros, Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Warren Buffertt, Michael Dell, Alan Greenspan, Lee Lacocca, Charles Schwab, Frederick Smith, and Sam Walton. PBS aired the programme on January 19, 2004, in their "Nightly Business News".
U.S.A.
Profiled in Discovery Channel
In 2004, TV Cable Channel Discovery produced an autobiography documentary film series titled "Crossings". In each episode it featured "one individual who made significant contribution to society as a result of certain experiences in life." Twelve Asians were profiled in this series. Professor Muhammad Yunus was one of them. He was the only one from the South Asian countries. Among others were : Chinese actress-director Joan Chan, international action movie star Jackie Chan, Thai elephant keeper Saudia Shawalla, and Malaysian cartoonist Datuk Laat.
FRANCE Inducted as a Member of the Legion d'Houneur by President Chirac of France in May, 2004.
BELGIUM Appointed as a Special Advisor to Hon'ble Mr. Louis Michel, E.U. Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid in March 2005.
FRANCE Awarded "Professeur Honoris Causa" by the most prestigious business school of France, HEC, in October, 2005.
TURKEY Addressed the "Members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly" at the invitation of the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly Mr. Bulent ARINC, on May 15, 2006.
COLOMBIA Received the "Key of Bogota City" from the Mayor of Bogota City, the capital of Columbia in October, 2006.
COLOMBIA Addressed Upper House of Parliament (Senate) and formal conferment of the title of "Knight", Colombia in October, 2006.
CHINA Appointed as "Honorary Professor" by Peking University, China on October, 2006.
HONG KONG "TIME" a weekly International news-magazine has selected as an "ASIAN HERO" of their "60 Years of ASIAN HEROS" issue in November, 2006.
USA MSN chosen as one of "Ten Most Influential Men of 2006" in their MSN LIFESTYLE : MEN category in December, 2006.
FRANCE Diploma of Honor given by Friends of the Indian Ocean, December 2006.
KOREA Selected as a "Distinguished Fellow" of the Ewha Academy for Advanced Studies, EWHA WOMENS UNIVERSITY, Seoul, Korea in March, 2007.
BAHRAIN Conferred the highest honour "Medal of the First Order of Merit" by the Kingdom of Bahrain in February, 2007.
VENEZUELA Conferred the highest honor of Government of Venezuela “Order of the Liberator in First Class with Grand Decoration by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela in Caracas, May 2007.
U.S.A. Business Week a weekly international news magazine has selected as one of the Greatest Entrepreneurs of All Time in July, 2007.
CHINA The Government of Hainan Province of the People Republic of China has honoured as an Adviser to the Government of Hainan Province in July, 2007.
SAUDI ARABIA Conferred by HM King of Saudi Arabia the highest Civil Award "King Abdul Aziz Medal" in September, 2007.
SAUDI ARABIA Establishment of a Research Chair at King Saud University in the name of Professor Muhammad Yunus in September 2007.
SAUDI ARABIA Conferred Honorary Professorship of the University in the Department of Economics, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia in September 2007.
ECUADOR Conferred Key to the City of Guayaquil and named Distinguished Guest of the City of Guayaquil declared by the District of Guayaquil, December 2007.
ECUADOR Conferred Key to the City of Quito and named Distinguished Guest of the City of Quito declared by the District of Quito, December 2007.
ECUADOR Visiting Fellow Catholic University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, December 2007 .
USA Bill White, Mayor of the City of Houston, USA has honoured Muhammad Yunus through proclaiming January 14, 2008 as Muhammad Yunus Day, January 2008.
BENIN Commander of the National Order of Benin : Conferred " Commander of the National Order of Benin" by the Grand Chancellor of the Order of Benin in Cortonou in February, 2008.
RUSSIA Conferred Honorary Professorship at Higher School of Economics by Evgeniy Yasin, Academic Supervisor, Alexander Shokhin, President and Yaroslav Kuzminov, Rector, The State University of Moscow - Higher School of Economics in March 2008.
RUSSIA Decorated by the Presidium of the International Movement of "Eastern Dimension" with the International Order of Eastern Dimension for asserting the world's highest ideals, humanism, and progress and for enhancing of friendship between Russian and Bangladeshi people, Russia in April 2008.
UKRAINE Awarded highest honor of the National Taras Shevchenko University in Kiev, Ukraine in April 2008.
U.S.A. Delivered commencement speech at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Massachusetts, USA on 6 June, 2008.
U.K. Delivered Adam Smith Lecture at Glasgow University, Glasgow, UK in December 2008.
U.K. Delivered Romanes Lecture at Oxford University, UK in December 2008.
U.S.A. Delivered commencement speech at Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA on 17 May 2009.
JAPAN Conferred the Distinguished Professor of the Kyushu University, Japan on July 17, 2010.
U.K.
In 2008, in an open online poll, was voted the 2nd topmost intellectual person in the world on the list of Top 100 Public Intellectuals by Prospect Magazine (UK) and Foreign Policy (United States). Also voted 2nd in Prospect Magazine's 2008 global poll of the world's top 100 intellectuals.
U.S.A Delivered commencement speech at Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA on 17 May 2009.
South Africa Delivered the Seventh Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture on July 11, 2009 at Johannesburg, South Africa.
India Delivered the second Prof. Hiren Mukerjee Memorial Annual Parliamentary Lecture at 6 PM on Wednesday on the 9th of December 2009, in the central hall of the Parliament House in New Delhi.
U.K.
Inaugurated the Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health in Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow on July 9, 2010
Japan Conferred the Distinguished Professor of the Kyushu University, Japan on July 17, 2010.
Italy
Honored with the highest national honor from the Republic of Italy, Cavaliere di Gran Croce on July 26, 2010
Peru
Honored with Peru highest national honor, Order of the Sun in the Grade of Grand Cross by President Alan Garcia of Peru on September 29, 2010
Malaysia Named the Laureate-in- residence at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) on July 15, 2011
U.S.A.
Selected as one of the 12 greatest entrepreneurs of our times by Fortune Magazine. This consists of an exclusive group of individuals, all of whom are known throughout the world for their innovation, vision and ability to get things done.
U.S.A.
Featured in a book called Transformative Entrepreneurs: How Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Muhammad Yunus and Other Innovators Succeeded" by Jeffrey Harris. The book came out in January 2012.
U.S.A. Featured as one of the “Most Influential Business Thinkers” in 2013, by the Wall Street Journal.
JAPAN Nominated as APU Academic Advisor at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) in 2014.
KAZAKHSTAN Nominated as Honorary Professor at Eurasia University in 2014.
IRELAND Delivered Inaugural Human Rights Lecture of Mary Robinson Centre on October 17, 2014 at Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland
SWEDEN Ranked 5th in the ‘‘Global Thought Leader 2014’’ survey by the Zurich-based Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute for Economic and Social Studies (GDI) and MIT Sloan School researcher Peter Gloor in 2014.
INDIA Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, presented gold medal to Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus for "giving the poorest a life of hope, opportunity and dignity" at the opening ceremony of the 102nd Indian Science Congress at Mumbai on January 3, 2015.
PAKISTAN Lifetime Member of The Intergovernmental Relations Council and Eminent Persons Council of International Human Rights Commission from 28 January 2015.
ITALY Awarded honorary citizenship of the city of Bologna in Italy. Mayor of Bologna Virginio Merola conferred this citizenship at a grand ceremony in the City Hall on July 8, 2015.
U.S.A Awarded “President's Medal 2016”, Becker College, MA, U.S.A. on 6 April 2016
ITALY Conferred honorary citizenship of Pistoia by the Mayor of the nearly 1000 year old Tuscan city. The ceremony took place in the Town Hall which was built in 1200 on May 10, 2016.
U.S.A ”Commencement Speaker” during Babson’s 2016 Commencement Ceremonies on May 14, 2016 at Babson College, MA, U.S.A.
FRANCE Mayor of Paris Ms Anne Hidalgo officially presenting 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus with the citizenship of Paris city at the venue of Global Social Business Summit 2017, International University Campus Paris (Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris) on November 06, 2017
JAPAN Honorary Distinguished Professor:
Awarded Honorary Distinguished Professor by Hiroshima University, Japan for outstanding accomplishment and recognition of his notable contribution to the development of education and research to this university on March 27, 2018
Special Show Appearances
The Daily Show with John Stewart Appeared in the Daily Show with John Stewart that aired on November 16, 2006 (Episode #11146), emphasizing that in lending the "poor should have the first priority".
Oprah Winfrey Show Appeared in the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2006 and discussed on poverty reduction strategies.
The Colbert Report Appeared in the Colbert Report hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired on January 10, 2008, explaining microcredit model.
Real Time with Bill Maher Appeared in the Real Time with Bill Maher that aired on May 22, 2009 at 8 PM and discussed on the Global Economic Crisis.
The Simpsons Appeared as a live cartoon character in an episode of hit US TV show The Simpsons. The appearance focused on Grameen Bank and work on micro-credit, and aired on October 3, 2010.
Awards Received by Grameen Bank
SWITZERLAND
Aga Khan Award For Architecture: 1989
Awarded Aga Khan Award For Architecture, 1989 by Geneva based Aga Khan Foundation for designing and operating Grameen Bank Housing Programme for the poor, which helped poor members of Grameen Bank to construct 60,000 housing units by 1989, each costing on an average $ 300.
BELGIUM
King Baudouin International Development Prize: 1993
Awarded "The King Baudouin International Development Prize 1992" for its recognition of the role of women in the process of development and the novelty of a financial credit system contributing to the improvement of the social and material condition of women and their families in rural areas.
BANGLADESH
Independence Day Award: 1994
Awarded Independence Day Award for outstanding contribution to Rural Development.
MALAYSIA
Tun Abdul Razak Award: 1994
Awarded the Independence Day Award, 1987, by the President for the outstanding contribution in rural development. This is the highest civilian national award of Bangladesh.
UNITED KINGDOM
World Habitat Award: 1997
Awarded World Habitat Award : 1997 by Building and Social Housing Foundation.
INDIA
Gandhi Peace Prize: 2000
Awarded "Gandhi Peace Prize :2000" by Government of India.
U.S.A.
Petersberg Prize: 2004
Awarded "Petersberg Prize 2004" by the Development Gateway Foundation, U.S.A. in 2004.
Norway
Nobel Peace Prize: 2006
Awarded "Nobel Peace Prize 2006" in October, 2006.
ABOUT PROFESSOR YUNUS :: FAMILY
Family of Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, Chairman of Yunus Centre and Founder of Grameen Bank, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Family Information
Name PROFESSOR MUHAMMAD YUNUS
Wife Afrozi Yunus
Eldest Daughter Monica Yunus
Youngest Daughter Deena Yunus
Father Haji Muhammad Dula Meah
Mother Sufia Khatun
Sister Momtaz Begum
Brother Muhammad Abdus Salam
Self Dr. Muhammad Yunus
Brother Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim
Sister Umme Kulsum
Brother Muhammad Ayub
Brother Muhammad Azam
Brother Muhammad Jahangir
Brother Muhammad Moinul Anam
Afrozi Yunus: Wife of Dr. Yunus
Dr. Yunus is married to Afrozi Yunus, a professor of physics at Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka.
Monica Yunus: Eldest Daughter of Dr. Yunus
Monica Yunus is quickly establishing herself as one of America's most promising young sopranos. A 2003 Sullivan Foundation Award winner, Ms. Yunus has already performed with numerous opera companies throughout North America. If the family name is familiar to you then you have guessed it right. She is the daughter of Prof. Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank of Bangladesh and the pioneer of micro-credit. Monica was born to Yunus and his Russian wife in Chittagong, Bangladesh in 1977 and left for USA after only three months. She was bred up by her mother in New Jersey. Muhammad Yunus married a Bangladeshi in 1980 and has been living in Bangladesh. But he still maintains contact with Monica. Monica has been a prize winner in numerous competitions, among them The Florida Grand Opera Competition, Palm Beach Opera Competition, the Lee Schaenen Foundation Award, and most recently The Mirjam Helin International Competition in Helsinki, Finland. She earned her degrees from The Juilliard School.
Please visit http://monicayunus.com/ to know more about Monica Yunus and her professional career.
Deena Yunus : Youngest Daughter of Dr. Yunus
Deena Yunus is the youngest daughter of Dr. Yunus.
Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim: Brother of Dr. Yunus
Younger brother of Dr. Muhammad Yunus
Date of Birth : 1 December 1945
Place of Birth : Chittagong, Bangladesh
Present Position : Professor of Physics University of Dhaka, Bangladesh;
and Executive Director Centre for Mass Education in Science (CMES).
Education:
- Ph.D in Physics, University of Southampton, England 1972
- M.Sc. in Physics and B.Sc. (Honours) in Physics, Dhaka University, Bangladesh, 1966 & 1965.
Research:
- Post-doctoral research in semiconductors, Uppsala University, Sweden 1977-78
- Research in solid state physics, semiconductor devices, renewable energy, and appropriate technology? in laboratories & fields home & abroad (1968 ~ present). 25 papers in scientific journals.
- Research in education methodologies, child & youth empowerment, and gender (1981 ~ present).
- Activities in People's Science & Technology:
- I started in 1961, while still in high school, Bijnan Samoeeki? the first popular science monthly in the country, and has been its editor and publisher ever since, over the 43 years of its regular publication. This monthly has helped create a rich popular science literature in Bangla language, and pioneered a vibrant science club movement around the country including the rural areas, among other things.
- The science periodical became the core around which I founded Centre for Mass Education in Science (CMES) in 1978. This has grown into one of the major NGOs of the country, with a unique mission of its own (described in the answer for the previous question), that I conceived and led.
- I authored 37 books, and numerous articles published in periodicals, newspapers, and conference proceedings? mainly on various aspects of people's science and appropriate technology.
- I have been a regular TV-person right from the inception of Television in our country in 1965. Most of the programs I designed and took part are on popular science and technology. My current regular program in Bangladesh Television is a quiz show named Desh-o-Biggan (Science and Our Country)? is going on for about a decade? almost continuously.
- I have been an occasional radio broadcaster for many decades. My favourite programs are on environment, current science and appropriate technology? mostly programs for the young people and with them.
Positions with International and National Forums:
- Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur? an associate of the World Economic Forum, Geneva and Davos, Switzerland (2001- present).
- Associate Member, Ashoka Innovators for the Public, Washington DC (1995- present).
- Associate Scientist, International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy (1984-1997).
- Secretary Bangladesh Solar Energy Society (1990-2002).
- Vice President Bangladesh Solar Energy Society (2002-present).
- Country Representative, South Asian Network for Environmental Education, Chandhigar, India (2001-present).
Awards:
- WorldAware Business Award (on behalf of CMES), London U.K. (2004).
- Institute of Diploma Engineer Gold Medal for popularization of science Dhaka, Bangladesh (2000).
- Qudrat-E-Khuda Gold Medal for popularization of science, Chittagong, Bangladesh (1989).
- Agroni Bank Award for Children Literature, Dhaka, Bangladesh (1987).
Commissioned Studies in Technology:
- Team Leader for the study on Traditional Technologies in Bangladesh, commissioned by UNESCO (2002).
- Consultant in the South South North (SSN) Project-Bangladesh component, in the implementation of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) (2002- present).
- Team Leader for the study on Policies and Legislations Affecting Wood Energy Production, Trade and Use in Bangladesh, commissioned by FAO (1998).
- Team Leader in the study for commercialization of Renewable Energy Technologies through Market Development, Enhanced Research Development and Demonstration, commissioned by UN-ESCAP (1998-99).
Muhammad Jahangir: Brother of Dr. Yunus
Muhammad Jahangir is a very strong media personality and columnist in Bangladesh. He runs the live television talk show GrameenPhone Tele Shomoy on Channel-I, Bangladesh. In recent days it is one of the most popular TV shows, which cover contemporary issues.
- Fighting Corruption at the Local Level: The Role of Civil Society is an example of a GrameenPhone Tele Shomoy episode. Muhammad Jahangir was the moderator of the program. Convener of CCC-Kurigram Advocate A T M Enamul Haque Chan, Member of the CCC-Jamalpur Advocate Shamim Ara and the Executive Director of TIB Dr. Iftekharuzzaman were present as discussion panelists. While discussing corruption the panelists said that the corruption which had taken place at the local level was always considered as local problems and therefore little efforts were made to address them. However, this only heightened the problems of corruption and the daily lives of people disrupted. While discussing the role of civil society in combating corruption at the local level, the panelists stated that the citizens could play the role of catalysts .The public organizations, especially the political parties could play the key role. It was concluded that to fight corruption, citizens at the local level and various government organizations must come together to raise awareness against corruption.
Muhammad Jahargir also serves at the panel of Meena Media Award jury committee. The Meena Media Awards were introduced in 2005. This UNICEF sponsored initiative is aimed at promoting excellence in media that is for, and about, children. For more information please visit http://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/media_1830.htm
ABOUT PROFESSOR YUNUS :: VISION
Muhammad Yunus's vision is the total eradication of poverty from the world. 'Grameen', he claims, 'is a message of hope, a programme for putting homelessness and destitution in a museum so that one day our children will visit it and ask how we could have allowed such a terrible thing to go on for so long'.
This work is a fundamental rethink on the economic relationship between the rich and the poor, their rights and their obligations. The World Bank recently acknowledged that 'this business approach to the alleviation of poverty has allowed millions of individuals to work their way out of poverty with dignity'.
Credit is the last hope left to those faced with absolute poverty. That is why Muhammad Yunus believes that the right to credit should be recognized as a fundamental human right. It is this struggle and the unique and extraordinary methods he invented to combat human despair that Muhammad Yunus recounts here with humility and conviction. It is also the view of a man familiar with both Eastern and Western cultures on the failures and potential for good of industrial countries. It is an appeal for action: we must concentrate on promoting the will to survive and the courage to build in the first and most essential element of the economic cycle Man.
PROFESSOR YUNUS'S WISH LIST
jap
There will be a global government to resolve issues of conflict between nations, and regions; to see that all parts of the world enjoy the similar quality of life; to pay attention to global human issues; to protect the planet, and the interest of all living beings on the planet.
Income inequality will become an irrelevant issue everybody will get everything he/she needs.
There will be only one currency. Coins and papers currency will be gone.
The sun, water, wind will be the main sources of power.
No need of paper. No need to cut trees. There will be synthetic re-usable papers, in case paper is absolutely needed.
Social businesses will become a substantial part of the business world.
Information on all bank accounts anywhere in the world will be in the public domain.
Basic connectivity will be wireless and costless.
Cures and preventions will be available to each person for all known diseases.
All cultures, cultural groups, and religions flourish to their full beauty and creativity, all contributing to the magnificent unified orchestra of human living.
No war. No war preparations. No military establishment to fight wars.
No passport, no visa for anybody any where in the world. All people will be truly global citizens of equal status.
People from all nations and backgrounds have a fair chance in participating in the great adventures of human being expanding the horizons of human knowledge and creativity.
Man will have the capability to forecast earthquake, cyclone, Tsunami, and other natural disasters, precisely and well ahead of time.
Everybody will read and hear everything in his language. Technology will make it possible for a person to speak, read, and write in his own language while listener will listen and reader will read the message in his own language. Softwares and gadgets will interpret, translate simultaneously as one speaks or downloads any text. One can watch any TV channel from any where but will listen the voice in his language.
Anybody can get connected to anybody else any where in the world without first looking for the telephone number or email address. Some minimum information (such as, a picture) will be enough to get him connected by voice or text.
Vaccines will be available for all communicable diseases (HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria, etc.).
Every baby will be born in perfect health. No infant mortality. No maternal mortality.
HONORARY DEGREES
List of Honorary Degrees for Professor Muhammad Yunus
1992 - 2010
Sl. No
Name of Countries
Number of Degrees
1.
Argentina
1
2.
Australia
2
3.
Bangladesh
1
4.
Belgium
3
5.
Canada
3
6.
Costa Rica
1
7.
India
1
8.
Italy
4
9.
Japan
4
10.
Korea
1
11.
Lebanon
1
12.
Malaysia
1
13.
Russia
1
14.
South Africa
2
15.
Spain
4
16.
Thailand
1
17.
Turkey
1
18.
UK
4
19.
USA
10
20. PERU 2
TOTAL :
48
Detailed List of Honorary Degrees:
U.K. Awarded the Degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, by the University of East Anglia, U.K., in 1992.
U.S.A. Awarded the Degree of Doctor of Humanities by the Oberlin College, U.S.A. in 1993.
CANADA Awarded the degree of Doctor of Law, honoris causa, by the University of Toronto, Canada in 1995.
U.S.A. Awarded the degree of Doctor of Law by the Haverford College, U.S.A. in May, 1996.
U.K. Awarded the degree of Doctor of Law by the Warwick University, U.K. in July, 1996.
U.S.A. Awarded the degree of Doctor of Public Service by the Saint Xaviers' University, U.S.A. in May, 1997.
U.S.A. Awarded the degree of Doctor of Civil Law, Honoris Causa by the University of the South, U.S.A. in January, 1998.
BELGIUM Awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Cause by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium in February, 1998.
U.S.A. Awarded the degree of Doctor of Social Science, honoris causa by the Yale University, U.S.A. in May, 1998.
U.S.A. Awarded the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa by the Brigham Young University, U.S.A. in August, 1998.
AUSTRALIA Awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Science in Economics by the University of Sydney, Australia in November, 1998.
AUSTRALIA Awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of the University by the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia in February, 2000.
ITALY Awarded the honorary degree of Doctor in Economics and Business (Laurea Honoris Causa) by the University of Turin, Turin, Italy in October, 2000.
U.S.A. Awarded the degree of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa by the Colgate University, Hamilton, U.S.A. in May 2002.
BELGIUM Awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University Catholique of Louvain in February, 2003.
ARGENTINA Awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the Universitad Nacional De Cuyo in April, 2003.
SOUTH AFRICA Awarded the degree of Doctor of Economics, honoris Causa by the University of Natal in December 2003.
INDIA Awarded the Degree of Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa by the Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswayvidyalaya, India in February, 2004.
THAILAND Awarded the degree of Doctor of Technology, Honoris Causa by the Asian Institute of Technology in August, 2004.
ITALY Awarded the degree of Doctor in Business Economics, Honoris Causa by the University of Florence in September, 2004.
ITALY Awarded the honorary degree of Doctor in Pedagogyst by the University of Bologna in October, 2004.
SPAIN Awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the Universidad Complutense, Madrid in October, 2004.
SOUTH AFRICA Awarded the Honorary Doctorate Degree in Economics by the University of Venda, South Africa in May, 2006.
LEBANON Awarded the Doctor of Humane Letters by the American University of Beirut, Lebanon in June, 2006.
SPAIN Awarded the Doctor of Honoris Causa by the University of Alicante in Valencia, Spain in June, 2006.
SPAIN Awarded the Doctor of Honoris Causa by the University of Valencia, in Valencia, Spain in June, 2006.
SPAIN Awarded the Doctor of Honoris Causa by the University of Jaume I in Valencia, Spain in June, 2006.
BANGLADESH Awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh in February, 2007.
JAPAN Awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities by the Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan in July, 2007.
MALAYSIA Awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Economics from the Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia in August, 2007.
KOREA Awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the Ewha Womans University in September, 2007.
COSTA RICA Awarded the Doctor of Humanities Honoris Causa Degree from the Earth University in December, 2007.
U.S.A. Awarded Honorary Degree from the Regis University, U.S.A. in March, 2008.
CANADA Awarded Honorary Degree from the University of British Columbia in March, 2008.
RUSSIA Awarded the Honorary Doctorate Degree from Moscow State University, Russia in April, 2008.
ITALY Awarded the Honoris Causa Degree in Science of Cooperation and Development from Sapienza Univerity of Rome, Italy in June, 2008.
U.K. Awarded Honorary Degree of Doctorate of Letters (D. Litt) in Glasgow Caledonia University, Glasgow, UK in December, 2008.
U.K. Awarded Honorary Degree of Doctorate from University of Glasgow, U.K. in December, 2008.
JAPAN Awarded Honorary Degree from Kobe University, Japan in March, 2009.
U.S.A. Awarded Honorary Doctor of Law Degree from University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, U.S.A. in May, 2009.
JAPAN Awarded Honorary Degree from Hokkaido University, Japan in September, 2009.
TURKEY Awarded Honorary Degree of Doctorate from Istanbul Commerce University, Istanbul in October, 2009.
U.S.A. Received Doctor of Humane Letters from Duke University, Durham, U.S.A. on May 16, 2010.
JAPAN Awarded Honorary Degree of Doctorate from Kwansei Guakin University, Kobe, Japan on 18 July, 2010.
CANADA Awarded Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada on September 1, 2010.
PERU Awarded Doctor Honoris Causa from San Ignacio de Loyola University, Lima, Paru on September 27, 2010.
PERU Awarded Doctor Honoris Causa from Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Paru on September 27, 2010.
BELGIUM Awarded Doctor Honoris Causa from University of Mons in Mons on October 18, 2010.
COMMITTEES
Membership of Committees and Commissions (National)
Was member, National Committee on Population Policy set up by the President of Bangladesh, in 1981.
Was member, Land Reform Committee, set up by Chief Martial Law Administrator, headed by the Minister of Agriculture, in 1982.
Member, Education Commission (1987-88), Government of Bangladesh.
Member, Presidential Committee on Health Education and Service (1987-88).
Appointed as the Chairman of the Socio-economic Committee of the National Disaster Prevention Council set up by the President of Bangladesh (1989-90).
Member of the National Debt Settlement Board headed by the President of Bangladesh (1989-90).
Member of the Task Force for reviewing the operation of the Nationalised Commercial Banks(1989).
Appointed as the Convenor of the Task Force on Self-Reliance set up by the Planning Advisor(1991).
Member of the National ICT Task Force Committee, Ministry of Planning, Bangladesh (2002 - ).
Membership of Committees and Commissions (International)
Appointed by the Secretary General of the United Nations as a member of the International Advisory Group for the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China (1993-1995).
Appointed as a member of the Global Commission on Women's Health for the period 1993-1995 by the Director General, World Health Organisation, Geneva, Switzerland.
Appointed as member of Advisory Council for Sustainable Economic Development, World Bank, Washington DC, USA (1993-to-date).
Appointed as member of the UN Expert Group on Women and Finance: Transforming Enterprise and Finance Systems, UNIFEM, Washington DC, USA (1993 to date).
Chairman of the Policy Advisory Group for the CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest), World Bank , Washington D.C., U.S.A. (1995 - 2000).
Member of the Council of Patrons of Friends of the Earth International, Amsterdam, Netherlands to support it in its continued campaigns to protect the environment (1996).
Member of theAdvisory Committee, Asian Ecotechnology Network.
Co-Chairman , State of the World Forum, San Francisco, U.S.A. (1996 ).
Co-Chairman, Council of Practitioners, Micro-Credit Summit, U.S.A. (1997 - ).
Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee, Center of Arab Women For Training And Research (CAWTAR), Tunisia (1997 - ).
Member of the Advisory Group, Institute For Democracy And Electoral Assistance (IDEA), Sweden (1997 - ).
Honourary Member, Club of Budapest, London, U.K. ( 1997 - ).
Member of the Advisory Group, Council of Women World Leaders, Kennedy Schools of Government Harvard University, U.S.A. (1997 - ).
Member of the Advisory Committee, 2020 Vision for Food, Agriculture and the Environment initiative, IFPRI, U.S.A. (1998 - ).
Member of the Advisory Committee, INTERNEWS, Arcata, San Francisco, U.S.A. (1999 - ).
Member of the International Consultative Committee, International Forum, Mujeres & Hombres, Lima, Peru (1999 - ).
Member, AGFUND Prize Committee, AGFUND, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (1999 - ).
Member, Hilton Humanitarian Prize Jury Committee, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, U.S.A. (1999 - ).
Member of the Presiding Council of the ProVention Consortium (a global partnership to address the increasing vulnerability of developing countries to the risk of natural and technological catastrophes), World Bank, Washington DC, U.S.A. (2000 - to-date).
Member of the High Council of International Exhibitions, International Bureau of Expositions, Paris, France (2000 - ).
Member of the High-Level Advisory Group on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), United Nations, New York, U.S.A. (2000 - ).
Member, Advisory Committee, Queen Sofia Chamber Orchestra (Orquestra de Camara Reina Sofia), Madrid, Spain (2001 - ).
Member, Global Steering Committee for the Fish for All Initiative, ICLARM, Malaysia (2002 - ).
Member, International Jury Committee of the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development, Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust, India (2002 - 2004).
Co-Chairman, Ambassadors' Council, Freedom from Hunger, U.S.A. (2003 - todate).
Member, Africa Progress Panel, UK (2007 - to-date).
Member, Elders Project, South Africa (2007 - to-date).
Co-Chairman, Women's World Forum, Republic of Korea (2007 - to-date).
BOARDS
Member, Board of Advisors (International)
Calmeadow Foundation, 4 Kind Street West, Suite 300, Toronto, Ontario M5H 1B6, Canada.
The Synergose Institute, 100 East 85th Street, New York, NY10028 U.S.A.
Living Economics, 42 Warriner Gardens, London SW11 4DU, U.K.
International Council for Freedom From Hunger, U.S.A.
International Council, Ashoka Foundation, Washington DC, USA.
Advisory Council, Women for Women of Bosnia, Washington DC, USA.
Advisory Board, The Center For Visionary Leadership, Washington D.C., U.S.A.
International Advisory Board, Council on Foreign Relations, New York, U.S.A.
International Advisory Board, Foundation for the Research of Societal Problems Ankara, Turkey.
Advisory Board, Credit for All, Inc. Denver, U.S.A
Advisory Board, The Gleitsman Foundation International Activist Award, California, U.S.A.
International Council, Asia Society, New York, U.S.A.
International Advisory Panel, UNESCO, Paris, France.
International Advisory Board, The Center For Visionary Leadership, Washington D.C. U.S.A.
International Council on the Future, UNESCO, Paris, France.
Global Advisory Board, EARTH ONE (a radio service for the world community) Borehamwood, United Kingdom.
Global Public Goods Advisory Board, Office of Development Studies, UNDP, New York, U.S.A
Advisory Board, Information Technologies and International Development, MIT Media Laboratory, Cambridge, U.S.A.
Advisory Board, Foundation for Entrepreneurship, Germany.
Advisory Panel, ESCAP/UNDP Joint Initiative in Supporting the Achievement of Millennium Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific Region, Thailand.
Founder Member, The Global Academy for Social Entrepreneurship, Ashoka, U.S.A.
Advisory Board, Prague Institute for Global Urban Development, Czechoslovakia.
Honorary Advisory Council, Alliance for the New Humanity (ANH), U.S.A.
Advisory Council for the new Templeton Freedom Awards, Atlas Economic Research Foundation , U.S.A
Advisory Board, Holcim Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland.
Advisory Board, Mahatma Gandhi Center for Global Nonviolence, Virginia,U.S.A.
Honorary Board Member, Center for International Studies Micro- Credit Program, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
Honorary Board Member, SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, the Netherlands
Advisory Board Member, “Global Health Agenda for Girls†project at the Center for Global Development, Washington D.C., U.S.A.
Advisory Board Member, MSC Malaysia International Advisory Panel (IAP), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Member, Board of Directors (National)
1976 - 1983 Founder and Project Director, Grameen Bank Project.
1983 - to-date Founder and Managing Director, Grameen Bank, Dhaka.
1991 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Krishi (Agriculture) Foundation, Rangpur.
1990 - to-date Founder and Executive Trustee, Grameen Trust, Dhaka.
1990 - to-date Designer and member of Governing Body, Polli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), Dhaka.
1979 - to-date Member, Board of Directors, Centre for Mass Education for Science, Dhaka.
1994 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Fund (a Social Venture Capital Fund), Dhaka.
1994 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Motsho (Fisheries)O PasuSampad (Livestock) Foundation, Dhaka.
1994 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Uddog, a non-stock, non-profit organization dedicated to promote the interest of the handloom-weavers of Bangladesh.
1995 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Telecom, a cellular telephone company to provide nationwide telephone service. It will provide telephone service in the rural areas of Bangladesh primarily through the poor women in rural areas.
1995 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Shamogree (Products), Dhaka.
1995 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Gona Shyastha Grameen Textile Mills Ltd., Dhaka.
1996 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Cybernet, Dhaka.
1996 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Communications, Dhaka.
1996 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Kallyan (well-being), Dhaka.
1996 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Shakti (energy), Dhaka.
1996 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Yunus Foundation, Dhaka.
1996 - to-date Member, Advisory Council of the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, Dhaka.
1997 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Shikkha (Education), Dhaka.
1997 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Knitwear Ltd., Dhaka.
1998 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Capital Management Ltd, Dhaka.
1999 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Software Ltd, Dhaka.
2000 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen IT Park Ltd, Dhaka.
2002 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Star Education Ltd, Dhaka.
2002 - to-date Founder and Chairman, Grameen Information Highways Ltd, Dhaka.
Member, Board of Directors (International)
1987 - 1997 Board of Directors, RESULTS, A Citizen's Lobby, Washington DC, U.S.A.
1987 - 1995 Board of Trustees, Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (A Grameen Replication Project in Malaysia.)
1989 - 1994 Board of Trustees of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines.
1990 - to-date Chief Patron, Credit and Savings for Hardcore Poor, (CASHPOR), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
1990 - 1992 Steering Committee, The Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Geneva, Switzerland.
1992 - 2002 Board of Directors, Calvert World Values Fund, Washington DC, USA.
1993 - to-date Board of Directors, Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA), U.S.A.
1995 - to-date International Crisis Group, Washington D.C., U.S.A.
1996 - to-date Patron, United Kingdom Social Investment Forum, London,U.K.
1998 - to-date Board of Directors, United Nations Foundation , Washington, U.S.A.
2000 - to-date Founding Patron, C21: Tomorrow’s Leaders for a Safer Planet, Oxford Research Group , Oxford, United Kingdom.
2001 - to-date Board of Directors, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship , Cologny, Switzerland.
2002 - to-date Board of Director, ManyOne Foundation, Canada.
2006 - to-date Board of Trustees, Coexist Foundation, University of Cambridge, UK.
2007 - to-date Board of Director, Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, Monaco.
2007- to -date Board of Directors, Chirac Foundation, France.
2007- to -date Board of Directors, Grameen Danone Food Ltd, Bangladesh.
2007- to -date Board of Directors, Danone Communities Fund, France.
2007- to -date Board of Directors, Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation, Luxemburg.
QUOTED: "When I was doing my PhD and then teaching, I developed a bird’s-eye view. I could see a very wide spectrum of things, almost the whole world. But I was seeing only the outline of things and filling them in, like a child coloring in a box, by making up stories about how people behave."
"Then, working in the village, door-to-door, person-to-person, I got a worm’s-eye view. I saw things at very close range—all the details, what really happens inside. And that’s more important, because I could then clearly see what the problem was and try to solve it—to start with a tiny little problem, and feel energized by it."
"Women used to hold less than 1% of bank loans in Bangladesh. So when I created Grameen, I wanted to make sure that half of the borrowers were women. ... It took us six years to finally achieve the goal of 50/50. Then we saw that the women borrowers brought so much more benefit to their families. Women want to build up something for the future with their money. Men want to spend it enjoying themselves. So we changed our policy to focus on women."
Muhammad Yunus
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Photography: Jared Leeds
Muhammad Yunus won a Nobel Peace Prize for spreading the concept of microcredit—tiny loans to help poor people start businesses—via his Bangladesh-based Grameen Bank. He resigned as CEO of that organization last year, at age 70, due to pressure from the Bangladeshi government, but he remains active in Grameen ventures elsewhere in the world. Interviewed by Alison Beard
HBR: There was a lot of controversy over your retirement. It was reported that the Bangladeshi government, which owns 3% of Grameen Bank, forced your hand.
Yunus: Look, when I was 60, I submitted my resignation. “Why do you want to retire?” the board asked. “Is the work becoming too heavy on you? Do you want to do something else? If you’re enjoying your work and we enjoy you, why don’t you continue?” So I said OK. When I turned 70, I did the same thing. I said, “I think I should go.” They said, “You cannot.” Staff members all over the country were writing me letters saying, “Don’t leave. This will bring a panic.” So again I couldn’t leave. But I wrote a letter by my own hand and took it to the finance minister and said, “I’m trying to retire as CEO, so why doesn’t the government appoint me as chairman? This way I can continue in a nonexecutive position and the position of CEO can go to a new person, without disrupting the whole motion of the bank.” Then last year the [government] authority asked for my resignation, saying I was illegally holding on to the position of CEO; I should have retired 10 years before at the age mandated by government bank rules. I contested in the high court, but the court did not accept my case. So I resigned.
But my personal position is not important. The important thing is to protect the rights of the women who own 97% of the shares of this bank. The law gives them the right to hire and fire the CEO and decide the age and the terms of his appointment. This is an organization that serves 8.3 million families; that’s around 40 million people—a quarter of the population of Bangladesh. It is run very well, and it won the Nobel Peace Prize. I just want to see that success continue.
But isn’t it in jeopardy now since the government is investigating Grameen Bank and seems to desire more control over its leadership? For example, its own political appointee, the bank chairman, will now appoint a selection committee to decide on your successor rather than the elected board. How do you feel about that?
It has fundamentally damaged the very essence of Grameen Bank. With this change, the government has practically taken over management, and this will set in motion the end of the bank. This is a disaster. A self-governing entity that has empowered poor women and earned global admiration will now be converted into a poorly managed and corrupt government bank. What a tragic end.
Do you regret staying on so long and not grooming any obvious successors?
No. There is no reason to regret. Grameen Bank is a hierarchical company. There’s a managing director—that is, a CEO—and the deputy CEO, and the general manager. Since I left the bank 15 months ago, two new acting CEOs have been in the top job, and the government has made frequent comments that the bank is managed better now than before. It seems I groomed not only one able successor but a line of them. The government says it will do an international search to recruit the new CEO, but it would be shameful for a Nobel-winning organization born from the initiative of a local person, institutionalized by local staff, operating only within the borders of one country to have a CEO who might not have roots in Bangladesh and who might not communicate well with the bank owners. Would such a person be a better successor than the ones I left behind?
Microfinance has also come under fire in recent years. How do you maintain quality control as your organization and your ideas spread?
The problem is not microcredit. It’s using the idea for the wrong purposes. Some programs in India treated microcredit as an opportunity to make money. They blew it up and went to the stock market to float IPOs and so on. And that created all the tension. Now in some places even the loan sharks call their services microcredit. But we have no problem at Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, because microcredit has remained mission-driven. We want to help poor people. We don’t see them as an object for making money.
How do you make sure all your people are adhering to the mission?
We have 2,600 branches at Grameen Bank. Each one is almost autonomous. But our goals are very clearly stated, and we monitor whether the branches are meeting them through something called Five Star. Each employee is supposed to look after 600 borrowers. If you get 100% repayment from those borrowers, you get a star. If the whole branch achieves 100%, then everyone in the branch gets a star. If you do it for the whole year, you get another star. If your branch is profitable, you get a fourth star. And if the children of the borrowers in your branch are all in school—every single child—you get the fifth star. These are stars you can wear on your chest, like in the military. So you go to work, and you see the star achievement.
What qualities do you look for in Grameen employees?
In the beginning, we were very small, so we were picky. We were trying to get the best possible staff. Now that we’re hiring so many people, we’re not looking for the ideal. There will be qualitative differences in the people we hire, but it’s OK. Bring them in, and let them go through the process. We take many kinds of people, and the system turns them into ideal people.
Grameen Bank started out as a field research project. Why is getting out into the field so important?
When I was doing my PhD and then teaching, I developed a bird’s-eye view. I could see a very wide spectrum of things, almost the whole world. But I was seeing only the outline of things and filling them in, like a child coloring in a box, by making up stories about how people behave. Then, working in the village, door-to-door, person-to-person, I got a worm’s-eye view. I saw things at very close range—all the details, what really happens inside. And that’s more important, because I could then clearly see what the problem was and try to solve it—to start with a tiny little problem, and feel energized by it.
How do you zoom out again?
I don’t. I look just at one plot, not the whole plantation. I do the plot and it works, so I do the next plot the same way. You start with 100 people and then move to the next 100 people, and eventually you see you can simultaneously add 100 people here, another 100 people there and there. You’re adding up to a bigger scale at a gradual speed. Then you have to monitor and start linking the structure and so on. But you’re not designing at the outset for a million people, starting with a megastructure. You’re moving step by step.
Still, you’re also known for setting huge goals. Why do you do that?
I believe that if you put all the creative power of human beings on one side and all the problems of the world on the other, and put them into a battle, human creative power will always win. It’s just that we don’t use our creative power to address problems; we use it to make money. We have created a system of money-chasing entities, rather than problem-solving entities. So how do we break from this? Social business. Create companies that are devoted to solving a tiny slice of our problems and that operate with the efficiency of business—but whose investors don’t expect any dividend. Making money is a happiness. Making other people happy is also a happiness. So why don’t we do both and maximize our happiness?
Should every company be a social business, or have a part of it that’s a social business?
Every company is a legal personality, so just as every person can do both, every company can do both. It’s a choice, whether it’s exclusively one or the other, or mixed in various proportions: 80/20 or 20/80. I’m not opposed to money-making. But why don’t you create a tiny little social business on the side to take five people out of the welfare system, or provide health care or technology to a group without it, or create a business to employ juvenile delinquents? Whatever you feel comfortable with.
In the joint ventures you’ve done with big corporations, what are some of the obstacles you’ve faced?
I have more excitements than problems. But there was one interesting problem with Danone that became a classic case. We had a 50-50 joint venture agreement: Grameen would give €500,000, and so would Danone. Grameen had no problem. But Danone couldn’t provide its half. Weeks went by, and they could not. Months went by; they could not. Finally, they explained. Their lawyers were objecting, saying that the money belonged to the shareholders and therefore couldn’t be used to invest in a company that would not pay them a dividend. But then Danone came up with a solution. It sent out a letter to all the shareholders before the annual general meeting saying: We want to start a company in Bangladesh that will tackle the problem of malnourished children. If you want to use part of your dividend to invest in this company, please sign up and tell us what percentage you want to put in. Around 97% or 98% of the shareholders signed up, and Danone ended up with €35 million. So there was a problem, and there was a solution.
How hands-on is your role in Grameen’s joint ventures?
I’m only one person. Most of the time, I’m not contributing personally in the design of the products. But I’m a catalyst for bringing people together, focusing on objectives, reminding everyone what we want. For example, in the Danone case, they first showed me a plastic container for yogurt. I said, “In social business, plastic is not allowed. We want biodegradable material.” The Danone guys said, “We use plastic all over the world.” And I said, “All over the world you’re a profit maker. Here you’re a social business.” They were unhappy, but they started looking for a solution. After four months, they came back with a new container made of cornstarch. “Can I eat it?” I asked. “Because why should poor people spend money on something they have to throw away? Why can’t you put nutrition in the cup?” So they worked very hard to make an edible cup. These big companies have enormous creative power. But unless you ask, you’ll never get an answer.
You have such a wide network of supporters. How do you go about building those relationships and lobbying for your ideas?
I don’t lobby for support. People become supporters because it matches their own wishes and desires to help the poor.
Fully 97% of Grameen’s loans are to women. Are women better businesspeople than men?
Women used to hold less than 1% of bank loans in Bangladesh. So when I created Grameen, I wanted to make sure that half of the borrowers were women. When we approached them, they said, “I don’t know what to do with money. I’m afraid of money. Give it to my husband.” And I thought, “This is not the voice of the woman. This is the voice of history, of the system, which created fear in their minds.” It took us six years to finally achieve the goal of 50/50. Then we saw that the women borrowers brought so much more benefit to their families. Women want to build up something for the future with their money. Men want to spend it enjoying themselves. So we changed our policy to focus on women.
Grameen works across the world now. What cultural differences have you seen?
We have a bank in New York City now—9,000 borrowers, an average loan of $1,500, repayment rate over 99%—and it’s doing exactly the same things we do in Bangladesh. There is no cultural variation. We focus on what Grameen is: tiny loans to poor women.
Do you think you’ll ever fully retire?
I don’t think any human being wants to retire as long as they enjoy the life. And I’m enjoying the life.
QUOTED: "Yunus offers sound recommendations to distribute global wealth more equitably through individual and systemic support for small-scale entrepreneurship."
A World of Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions
Publishers Weekly. 264.35 (Aug. 28, 2017): p123.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
A World of Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions
Muhammad Yunus, with Karl Weber. Public Affairs, $28 (304p) ISBN 978-1-61039-757-5
Yunus (Banker to the Poor), a Noble Prize winner and founder of the Bangladesh-based Grameen Bank, which pioneered microcredit, describes himself as "fundamentally optimistic about the future." That optimism permeates his argument that the capitalist system's economic framework, driven by personal interest, is broken and must be redesigned so that "both personal and collective interests are recognized, promoted, and celebrated." Yunus's preferred vehicle for this redesigned economy is the so-called social business, which aims not to enrich investors but improve people's lives and make the world better. Yunus explains how social businesses can help reduce poverty, unemployment, and environmental degradation. He then examines the "megapowers" that he believes are crucial to his vision of world transformation: young people, old people, technology, good governance, and human rights. Along the way, he expresses his support for fair, free global trade. The book is packed with true-life examples, many from Yunus's own experiences with Grameen Bank. Though the sparseness of financial data in the text is a weakness, Yunus offers sound recommendations to distribute global wealth more equitably through individual and systemic support for small-scale entrepreneurship. (Oct.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"A World of Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions." Publishers Weekly, 28 Aug. 2017, p. 123. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A502652679/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=da64dfb0. Accessed 14 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A502652679
QUOTED: "The author's humane proposal for economic reform, far from impractical, makes for provocative reading for development specialists."
Yunus, Muhammad: A WORLD OF THREE ZEROS
Kirkus Reviews. (Aug. 1, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Yunus, Muhammad A WORLD OF THREE ZEROS PublicAffairs (Adult Nonfiction) $28.00 9, 26 ISBN: 978-1-61039-757-5
A book to make Wall Street quake--if Wall Street paid attention to the developing world.The classic description of capitalism, writes Bangladeshi economist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Yunus (Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism that Serves Humanity's Most Pressing Needs, 2010, etc.), assumes that the free market imposes curbs on economic inequality. In fact, it does not work that way, and inequality is growing markedly across the world, requiring a rethinking of the tenets of not only free-market capitalism, but also the marketplace. Such a rethinking, by the author's account in this hortatory but accessible text, makes room for a hybrid "social business" that is not quite for-profit and not quite nonprofit but something that partakes of both while leveraging the human propensity for selflessness. In this regard, Yunus' experiments in microfinance and microcredit, loaning small sums of money to businesspeople actual and aspiring, are cases in point. At the same time, he adds, a re-envisioned economics will recognize that humans are naturally entrepreneurs, best served not by jobs as such but by opportunities to make their own ventures in the marketplace. Again, his microfinancial work "introduced a new program of offering new-entrepreneur loans from Grameen Bank to support...efforts to create businesses" on the part of young Bangladeshis. Entrepreneurship catering to the mass market, Yunus argues, will prove more sustainable in the end than "trying to sell a few more luxury goods to a handful of wealthy people who already have more things than they will ever need." A third plank of a revised economics includes sustainable, clean energy, which Yunus believes developing nations are better positioned to adapt than many advanced economies, precisely because they are more of a blank slate. While antithetical to the prevailing capitalism, the author's reforms, he insists, will yield an economic system that more closely corresponds to who humans really are: partners and not predators. The author's humane proposal for economic reform, far from impractical, makes for provocative reading for development specialists.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Yunus, Muhammad: A WORLD OF THREE ZEROS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Aug. 2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A499572711/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=db2847c9. Accessed 14 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A499572711
QUOTED: "His impassioned dream of a different version of capitalistic endeavor is as inspirational as it is practical."
Yunus, Muhammad. Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism That Serves Humanity's Most Pressing Needs
Carol J. Elsen
Library Journal. 135.13 (Aug. 2010): p93+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2010 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
Yunus, Muhammad. Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism That Serves Humanity's Most Pressing Needs. PublicAffairs: Perseus. 2010. c.272p, index. ISBN 978-1-58648-824-6. $25.95. BUS
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Yunus (Creating a World Without Poverty) uses the selfish/selfless dichotomy of human nature to explain the fundamental difference between his concept of for-profit business vs. the social business. While the former seeks to maximize profit for the benefit of the owners, the latter aims to pursue social objectives for the benefit of poor customers and employees. Likewise, the social business differs from a traditional nonprofit because, like a for-profit business, it is self-sustaining through its sale of goods and services. Yunus developed the social business concept during the crushing 1974 Bangladesh famine. Local villagers, seeking aid for their entrepreneurial endeavors, found themselves virtually enslaved to moneylenders. By repaying the loans owed by these 42 enterprising souls, Yunus stumbled on the concept of microcredit. VERDICT Yunus engagingly profiles international social businesses, whether launched by multinational corporations or conceived by ordinary people with a vision to solve social problems. He offers practical advice for starting your own social businesses: from idea generation to the nuts and bolts of launching and running the concern. His impassioned dream of a different version of capitalistic endeavor is as inspirational as it is practical.--Carol J. Elsen, Univ. of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Elsen, Carol J.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Elsen, Carol J. "Yunus, Muhammad. Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism That Serves Humanity's Most Pressing Needs." Library Journal, Aug. 2010, p. 93+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A234308847/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=dcc5b37a. Accessed 14 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A234308847
QUOTED: "Infused with entrepreneurial spirit ... this book is the opposite of pessimistic recitals of intractable poverty's horrors."
Creating a World Without Poverty: How Social Business Can Transform Our Lives
Publishers Weekly. 254.47 (Nov. 26, 2007): p44.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2007 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Creating a World Without Poverty: How Social Business Can Transform Our Lives MUHAMMAD YUNUS. Perseus, $26 (256p) ISBN 978-1-58648-493-4
Economics professor Yunus claims he "originally became involved in the poverty issue not as a policy-maker, scholar, or researcher, but because poverty was all around me." With these words he stopped teaching "elegant theories" and began lending small amounts of money, $40 or less, without collateral, to the poorest women in the world. Thirty-three years later, the Grameen Bank has helped seven million people live better lives building businesses to serve the poor. The bank is solidly profitable, with a 98.6% repayment rate. It inspired the micro-credit movement, which has helped 100 million of the poorest people in the world escape poverty and earned Yunus (Banker to the Poor) a Nobel Peace prize. This volume efficiently recounts the story of microcredit, then discusses "Social Business," organizations designed to help people while turning profits. French food giant Danone's partnership to market yogurt in Bangladesh is described in detail, along with 25 other businesses that operate under the Grameen banner. Infused with entrepreneurial spirit and the excitement of a worthy challenge, this book is the opposite of pessimistic recitals of intractable poverty's horrors. (Jan.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Creating a World Without Poverty: How Social Business Can Transform Our Lives." Publishers Weekly, 26 Nov. 2007, p. 44. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A172052116/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e8de4d83. Accessed 14 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A172052116
QUOTED: "His incredible story is told in a simple, straightforward manner; no need to understand complicated economic theory to appreciate this book."
Yunus, Muhammad. Banker to the poor
Ann Hart
Kliatt. 38.1 (Jan. 2004): p29+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2004 Kliatt
http://hometown.aol.com/kliatt/
Full Text:
PublicAffairs. 273p. illus. index. c1999. 1-58648-198-3. $15.00. SA
Newly appointed economics professor at Chittagong University in Bangladesh, Yunus began to feel frustrated by the abject poverty of his neighbors in contrast to the lofty economic theories he was imparting to his students. Subsequent research in the villages revealed that lack of credit was the poor people's problem. Local moneylenders also working as middlemen kept them from making a fair profit. In utter frustration one day. handing $27 to an assistant to go and make the loans, Yunus determined to do more. Working with his local bank revealed a firmly entrenched lending policy that contributed to the problem. His struggle began. Some years later Grameen Bank was granted a constitution and the legal protection of the Ministry of Finance.
Yunus' book begins with a brief description of his childhood and education in Chittagong and relates how he became involved in the liberation of Bangladesh while a professor in the US. His incredible story is told in a simple, straightforward manner; no need to understand complicated economic theory to appreciate this book. It is a story of reaching out and improving the lives of poor people and proof that socially conscious-driven businesses can succeed. Grameen (meaning "rural" or "of the village") has grown to 1,190 branches working in 43,258 villages with 11,806 employees since its founding in 1983. It currently provides the same financial services that "real" banks provide. It is 93% owned by its membership with 95% of its borrowers women. Loan repayment percentage is 98.08% and it has realized a profit in all but three of its years in business. Yunus' plan for micro lending has evolved and spread into other parts of the world, including rural Arkansas under Clinton's governorship, gaining popularity among traditional banking institutions. Subject areas for this book are economics, social affairs, poverty, and women's studies. Ann Hart, Trustee, Juniata Cty. Lib., Mifflintown, PA
S--Recommended for senior high school students.
A--Recommended for advanced students and adults. This code will help librarians and teachers working in high schools where there are honors and advanced placement students. This also will help extend KLIATT's usefulness in public libraries.
Hart, Ann
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Hart, Ann. "Yunus, Muhammad. Banker to the poor." Kliatt, Jan. 2004, p. 29+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A112247113/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=55dda44d. Accessed 14 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A112247113
QUOTED: "a charming and often moving autobiography about how he came to be one of the most celebrated antipoverty campaigners of our era."
"It would have been interesting if Yunus had explained in greater detail the obstacles the Grameen Bank faces in expanding its work. Is it recruitment of village workers? Is it finance? Are there managerial constraints? Is there an absence of desire to expand? But this is a splendid book, which ends with a hopeful message."
Banker to the Poor
Paul Streeten
Finance & Development. 37.1 (Mar. 2000): p54.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2000 International Monetary Fund
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2009/06/index.htm
Full Text:
Muhammad Yunus
Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty
Public Affairs, New York, 999, ix + 258 pp., $24, [pounds]18.50, Can$35 (cloth).
IT HAS ALWAYS struck me as odd that credit is considered a good thing, has positive connotations, is a "hurrah" word, whereas debt is considered a bad thing, has negative connotations, is a "boo" word. Professor Muhammad Yunus, the founder and managing director of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, has even gone so far as to call credit a human right. Yet debt and credit are inevitably the same. Would anyone advocate imposing more debt on poor people (whether small farmers, microentrepreneurs, or rural women) as part of a strategy to eradicate poverty? The enthusiastic advocates of credit sometimes forget that loans at fixed interest rates present risks to the borrowers, including the risk of being unable to repay the loan. Small farmers living near subsistence level, for example, are notoriously, and rightly, risk averse. Credit can increase their vulnerability, whereas lower interest rates will discourage saving.
For people at the lowest income levels, food and health are the top priorities. Without better nutrition, they are unable to work. As income rises, credit becomes more important. It allows people to receive training, buy inputs, and finance working capital. At a slightly higher income level, training is a top priority. Yunus, who strongly opposes requiring training as a condition for credit, maintains that none of his borrowers needed training. However, I have observed a project in which the poor underwent training in the hope of obtaining credit afterward, but later often found the credit to be unnecessary. With a knowledge of simple bookkeeping and cost accounting, they were able to increase the profits of their microenterprises enough to dispense with credit.
Yunus--a man of vision, practical ability, and drive--has written a charming and often moving autobiography about how he came to be one of the most celebrated antipoverty campaigners of our era. He started the Grameen Bank with a personal loan of $27 to 42 poor people in his village. The loan freed them from indebtedness to moneylenders and middlemen. The bank lends small sums, mainly to poor rural women, who use it in enterprises that will improve their children's welfare--for example, to build fish ponds or buy dairy cows and rice-husking machines. People learn to help themselves. The Grameen Bank uses peer pressure in small groups to encourage repayments, and its repayment record is spectacular. In comparison, big borrowers are notorious for not repaying their loans.
The Grameen Bank, a nongovernmental organization (NGO), is frequently and rightly upheld as a wonderful model for lifting the poor out of poverty and has been replicated around the world, including in many rich countries. Its purpose is to transfer the burden of screening and enforcement from the lending institution to borrowers' groups. The advantage of this is that costs are reduced; a disadvantage is that small groups of borrowers are less able than credit institutions to bear risks. But the model reduces moral hazard (the possibility that individuals or institutions will change their behavior in unanticipated ways as the result of a contract or agreement; for example, a bank whose deposits are insured against loss may make riskier loans and investments) and adverse selection (a problem that arises when information known to one party to a contract is not known to the other party, causing the latter to incur major costs; for example, individuals who have the poorest health are more likely to buy health ins urance), which may override the higher social costs of the wrong party's bearing the risks.
A less widely known aspect of the Grameen Bank is that it has difficulty finding enough workers to process the loans; that turnover is high, with more workers leaving than entering; that the credit extended represents only a tiny proportion of total credit (the bank has served only 1.4 million people out of Bangladesh's population of 120 million, or about 1 percent; the credit provided by NOOs accounts for only 0.6 percent of total lending); and, most striking of all, that some borrowers make repayments by borrowing from village usurers.
An NGO like the Grameen Bank cannot replace governments or commercial credit. Instead, its function should be to work with the government, to exert political pressure on it, to change its policies, and to pioneer models that can be replicated. It is sometimes claimed that NGOs work without and against the government. In fact, the Grameen Bank relies heavily on the government and, in 1990, received 60 percent of its capital from the Bangladesh government.
It would have been interesting if Yunus had explained in greater detail the obstacles the Grameen Bank faces in expanding its work. Is it recruitment of village workers? Is it finance? Are there managerial constraints? Is there an absence of desire to expand? But this is a splendid book, which ends with a hopeful message: "We have created a slavery-free world, a smallpoxfree world, an apartheid-free world. Creating a poverty-free world would be greater than all these accomplishments. . . . This would be a world that we could all be proud to live in."
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Streeten, Paul. "Banker to the Poor." Finance & Development, Mar. 2000, p. 54. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A61643575/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=35c25af9. Accessed 14 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A61643575
QUOTED: "definitely recommended for larger public and academic libraries."
Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty
Olga B. Wise
Library Journal. 124.12 (July 1999): p116.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1999 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
Yunus, Muhammad. Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty. Public Affairs. 1999. c.288p, photogs. ISBN 1-891620-11-8. $24. INT AFFAIRS
Bangladesh, a country the size of Florida with a population of over 120 million people, is the home of Grameen Bank, the inspiration of economist Yunus, Bangladesh-born and U.S.-trained. Instead of spending his life as a university economics professor, Yunus decided in the mid-1970s to develop a micro-lending program to help the poorest people of his country. Yunus based the program on his strong belief that the very poor do not need complicated training programs to improve their economic lot. They need money, in the form of loans. This program has empowered thousands of people--many of them women--and surprised experts in economic development who never believed that the very poor would find the initiative and ability to repay even the smallest ($25-$500) loans. Grameen ("of the village") Bank has developed into an internationally acclaimed and replicated method for assisting the impoverished in Malaysia, the Philippines, Nepal, and even the United States. Definitely recommended for larger public and academic libraries.--Olga B. Wise, Compaq Computers, Austin
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Wise, Olga B. "Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty." Library Journal, July 1999, p. 116. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A55315724/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=321e36ed. Accessed 14 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A55315724
Microlending: From tiny acorns
The Economist. 349.8098 (Dec. 12, 1998): p6.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1998 Economist Intelligence Unit N.A. Incorporated
http://store.eiu.com/
Full Text:
BANKER TO THE POOR. By Muhammad Yunus, with Alan Jolis. Aurum Press; 313 pages; K18.95
``CAN we really create a poverty-free world?'' asks Muhammad Yunus at the end of his autobiography. Yes, he says, and he believes that he has the key: credit. According to Mr Yunus, the surest route out of destitution for the world's poorest people lies not in aid, welfare payments or loans from development banks to governments, but in lending tiny amounts of money directly to the poor. This book, the story of both Mr Yunus's life and Grameen Bank, the institution he founded, is his account of how he has put his belief into practice.
In 1974, as a young economics professor at the University of Chittagong in his native Bangladesh, Mr Yunus was appalled at the poverty in the village next to the campus. The theories he was teaching, he felt, did nothing to explain this misery nor to suggest how it might be ended. He decided to find out for himself. His first interviewee, a young woman, made bamboo stools with raw materials bought with borrowed money. The finished stools had to be sold back to the moneylenders, leaving scarcely enough, after repaying her loan with interest, to feed her family. So to make her next batch of stools, she had to return to the moneylenders. There seemed to be no escape from the usurers' grip.
Why, thought Mr Yunus, should banks not lend such women the money to buy their raw materials? Having sold her wares at a fair price on the open market, she should have enough left over to service her debt, feed her family and make a profit. To most banks this seemed-and still seems-a daft idea. People this poor have no collateral, no business experience and are often unlettered. Surely, there could be no worse credit risk?
Mr Yunus disagreed, and set up his own bank, at first under the wing of Bangladesh's agricultural bank and some commercial banks. The poor, he argues, have a much greater incentive than the rich to repay their debts: it is their only way out of destitution. He claims that Grameen Bank, which was incorporated in its own right in 1982, has a default rate of less than 1%, far lower than conventional banks can boast. Moreover, most of the world's poorest people are women. To Grameen, they are more reliable customers than men, and make up 94% of the bank's borrowers. The bank's unusual system of making loans, which relies on peer-group pressure, also plays an important part in keeping defaults down. Prospective borrowers form groups of five who learn the bank's ways together. If one member of a group defaults, the others cannot get a loan.
Apparently, even incredibly, it works. The bank employs 12,000 people, has 2.3m borrowers and lends $35m every month; it also makes a profit. Quite how, to anyone steeped in conventional economics and banking, is a puzzle. Why does Grameen succeed where ordinary banks fear to tread? Subsidised loans used to be part of the answer, but Grameen now borrows commercially. A more likely explanation is that conventional banks cannot justify the costs of making the tiny loans, often of a few dollars, in which Grameen specialises. Their streamlined lending systems also demand credit histories and so forth. Grameen's more personal system dispenses with all that. Mr Yunus's connections-often, the bank progresses thanks to a chance meeting with an old friend-are also convenient in a country governed so badly and often so corruptly.
Microlending has now spread beyond Bangladesh, to America and Western Europe as well as developing countries. A summit in Washington, DC, last year attracted 3,000 delegates. Grameen has moved beyond banking, to fish farming, textile manufacture and even telecommunications and the Internet. Is Mr Yunus right to think that microlending and other Grameen-type enterprises can go a long way to rid the world of poverty? Perhaps-although in the course of his book he unwittingly points to a reason why it very likely will not. In Grameen Bank's early days, his unwilling patrons in the commercial banks resisted the extension of his then tiny project. It would not work, they said, because the success of the venture so far had depended on Mr Yunus's energy, and there was only one of him.
This, says the author, made him ``angry''; his co-workers were just as capable and dedicated. Twenty years on, the growth of his ideas might seem to have proved him right. Nevertheless, microlending, for all its successes, has barely scratched the surface of the world's poverty. To rid the globe of poverty through credit would require many, many more people with Mr Yunus's energy and optimism. Are there really enough?
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Microlending: From tiny acorns." The Economist, 12 Dec. 1998, p. 6. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A53432994/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=25ba4497. Accessed 14 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A53432994
Give Us Credit: How Muhammad Yunus's Micro-Lending Revolution Is Empowering Women from Bangladesh to Chicago
Debra Phillips
Entrepreneur. 24.6 (June 1996): p210.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1996 Entrepreneur Media, Inc.
Full Text:
Is credit the means by which the world's poor can rise above their lot in life? By creating an opportunity for self-employment. are you ensuring greater prosperity for all? With the success of his Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus--teacher-turned visionary banker--has certainly lent credence to I the idea of giving credit to the downtrodden in society. He has, through his efforts, challenged basic assumptions about poverty and the means to escape it.
"In creating the Grameen Bank, Muhammad Yunus turned the conventional wisdom of traditional financial institutions on its head," writes Alex Counts in Give Us Credit: How Muhammad Yunus's Micro-Lending Revolution Is Empowering Women From Bangladesh to Chicago (Times Books, $26 cloth). "Banks seek out wealthy people with collateral, and exclude the poor. Yunus sought out the impoverished, and excluded the rich."
One particularly smart move on Yunus' part was requiring borrowers to form small groups--in this way, financial risk is shared. Borrowers typically take out loans for $25 to $75 for businesses as disparate as shopkeeping and cow fattening. The results speak volumes: Grameen Bank is estimated to have lifted half a million families out of poverty.
The long-term future--and potential--of microlending programs throughout the world remains uncertain. But Give Us Credit I makes a strong case for giving the poor a hand up, rather than a handout.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Phillips, Debra. "Give Us Credit: How Muhammad Yunus's Micro-Lending Revolution Is Empowering Women from Bangladesh to Chicago." Entrepreneur, June 1996, p. 210. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A18373356/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=91ce3b85. Accessed 14 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A18373356
QUOTED: "In nine short, well-written chapters, Yunus provides genuine insight into global poverty and a unique perspective on the ways in which social businesses can coexist."
Yunus, Muhammad. Building social business: the new kind of capitalism that serves humanity's most pressing needs
S.R. Kahn
CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries. 48.1 (Sept. 2010): p149.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2010 American Library Association CHOICE
http://www.ala.org/acrl/choice/about
Full Text:
48-0381
HD60
2010-2857 CIP
Yunus, Muhammad. Building social business: the new kind of capitalism that serves humanity's most pressing needs, by Muhammad Yunus with Karl Weber. PublicAffairs, 2010. 226p index ISBN 9781586488246, $25.95
With passion and the conviction of his experiences aiding the poor in Bangladesh, Yunus (2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner; Banker to the Poor, CH, Mar'00, 37-4016) suggests that by adapting the traditional capitalistic paradigms to develop social businesses, social welfare and human needs fulfillment can be improved. He persuasively argues that the world should respond to global poverty by embracing the tenets of free market capitalism to create self-sustaining, "not-for-shareholder" social businesses designed to solve a social problem, produce economic growth, and serve markets that traditional organizations either cannot or will not serve. In nine short, well-written chapters, Yunus provides genuine insight into global poverty and a unique perspective on the ways in which social businesses can coexist with traditional businesses to alleviate poverty and improve the lives of the world's citizens. Excellent real-life examples from companies such as Adidas, BASE and Intel, as well as profiles of a variety of entrepreneurs and social activists, evidence how side-by-side for-profit and social businesses are becoming the catalyst of socioeconomic change and enhanced global social welfare. See related, Alex Counts, Small Loans, Big Dreams: How Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus and Microfinance Are Changing the World (CH, Nov'08, 46-1596). Summing Up: Highly recommended. *** General readers, all levels of undergraduate students, practitioners.--S. R. Kahn, University of Cincinnati
Kahn, S.R.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Kahn, S.R. "Yunus, Muhammad. Building social business: the new kind of capitalism that serves humanity's most pressing needs." CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Sept. 2010, p. 149. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A249057707/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=cbbb50d2. Accessed 14 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A249057707
QUOTED: "There is limited treatment in the book of 'what could go wrong?' Yet, the loss of even one large sponsor could set the program back for some time. Nevertheless, the presentation is provocative because the success record is impressive, and loan repayments are virtually all made. The book certainly provides business economists, and through them business management, ideas on how to make social investing work and work profitably for the sponsoring group."
Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism
Edmund A. Mennis and Gerald L. Musgrave
Business Economics. 43.3 (July 2008): p77+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2008 The National Association for Business Economists
http://www.nabe.com/
Full Text:
By Muhammad Yunus, 2007. Public Affairs, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Pp. 261, $26.00 hardcover. This review is based on eight compact discs, narrated by Patrick Lawlor, $29.95.
This book tells the story of Dr. Muhammad Yunus and how his pioneering work in making small loans to people resulted in his receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. He attended Vanderbilt University under a Fulbright scholarship, pursuing economics studies. He was teaching at a university in Bangladesh when this saga began. He believed that very small loans (under $50) would greatly improve the lives of poor people living around the university. When he attempted to persuade local banking institutions to make these "microloans," his efforts were rebuffed. He offered to guarantee the loans himself and still had difficulties. Eventually, the loans were made and successfully repaid. He wanted the bank to make new loans in other places. Again, he met obstacles. Eventually, the new loans were made and repaid. However, faced with what he viewed as never-ending hurdles, he began the Grameen Bank to make the loans directly. Through trial and error, he found that women were much better credit risks than men and that small, self-help groups of borrowers working together provided the most reliable results. This formula for success led to his Grameen Bank lending almost seven billion dollars to seven million poor people.
This book presents how these loans changed the lives of the recipients. In addition to business loans, the bank makes home loans. The loans are to the wife. Formerly, it was easy for the husband to divorce the wife. Now that the home is in the woman's name, the prospect of the divorced husband having to move makes divorce much less attractive and contributes to increased family stability.
The activities of Grameen Bank were increased as it made an agreement with Groupe Danone (a French firm) in a joint venture to produce and market yogurt throughout Bangladesh. The marketing effort was spurred by the endorsement of sports celebrities who played international soccer, which is very popular in Bangladesh.
In addition to describing the operation and marketing of Grameen Bank, Professor Yunus makes some critical comments about the focus of corporate managements today on bottom-line profits in order to increase share prices and their compensation. In his view, there seems to be no place in the thinking of today's corporate management for successful corporations to indulge in social investing, which Dr. Yunus believes will be a future avenue to reduce poverty and increase entrepreneurship. Rather than handing out money to help alleviate depressed areas, Dr. Yunus presents market-based solutions with a proven record of success.
The book is controversial for many reasons. One issue is that the book's title itself seems to many observers to overestimate what micro-finance alone could accomplish. Also, the author has singular views on the objectives and benefits of capitalism and market-based institutions. He is not anti-capitalist, and he does not call for more government or more charity spending to help the poor. Actually, just the opposite. He argues for a new form of business based on the objective of doing good rather than making profits. The firms would be financed by individual and corporate investment of funds that would otherwise go to charitable spending. While these new social businesses would repay the start-up venture capital, they would not pay dividends. The profits would be used to advance the social good, as seen by the firm. Business economists will understand why the book is controversial.
Of course, social investing is not a guaranteed success or the only path to solving the world's problems. For example, products that are tied to changes in fashion can go out of style quickly. World marketing can be disrupted by currency crises. Individual countries or groups of countries can be affected by cyclical downturns. There is limited treatment in the book of "what could go wrong?" Yet, the loss of even one large sponsor could set the program back for some time. Nevertheless, the presentation is provocative because the success record is impressive, and loan repayments are virtually all made. The book certainly provides business economists, and through them business management, ideas on how to make social investing work and work profitably for the sponsoring group.
For the reader who is interested in the Grameen Bank, its web page www.grameen-info.org is a good place to start. For an interesting introduction to how the Grameen began, in the author's own words, a good source is www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxpTFw Qx-A8. The Nobel committee has a web page that contains brief remarks by Yunus at: www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/index.php?id=83&view=3.
Mennis, Edmund A.^Musgrave, Gerald L.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Mennis, Edmund A., and Gerald L. Musgrave. "Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism." Business Economics, vol. 43, no. 3, 2008, p. 77+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A186321916/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=4d257506. Accessed 14 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A186321916
QUOTED: "Yunus offers a tested and realistic blueprint for how it could be achieved."
A World of Three Zeroes review: Muhammad Yunus' recipe for social improvement
By Fiona Capp27 October 2017 — 10:28am
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A World of Three Zeroes
Muhammad Yunus
A World of Three Zeroes, by Muhammad Yunus.
A World of Three Zeroes, by Muhammad Yunus.
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While it might be business as usual at Wall Street, capitalism is undergoing a revolution from below. Through microfinance and a social-business model that promotes human flourishing rather than profit, Nobel Peace Prize-winner Muhammad Yunus looks to a new economic system driven both by personal and collective interests. "The existing capitalist engine is producing more damage than solutions. It needs to be redesigned – or replaced by an entirely new engine." In this inspiring book, Yunus outlines the key components of this new engine and how it is being built from the ground up in some of the poorest parts of the world. The world he envisions would have zero poverty, zero unemployment and zero net carbon emissions. While this might sound pie in the sky, Yunus offers a tested and realistic blueprint for how it could be achieved.
QUOTED: "Yunus’ intentions are noble and his approach is balanced and practical."
"Yunus generates excitement about the potential of turning things around but there are more questions than answers in his vision. Though the humane proposal for economic reform is far from practical, A World of Three Zeroes does provide provocations for a wider engagement with development economists and specialists."
Review: A World of Three Zeroes by Muhammad Yunus
In his optimistic A World of Three Zeroes, Nobel prize winner, Muhammad Yunus presents a case for reinventing mainstream economics to create a world with zero unemployment, zero poverty and zero net carbon emissions
BOOKS Updated: Jan 12, 2018 19:52 IST
Sudhirendar Sharma
Sudhirendar Sharma
Hindustan Times
Bangladeshi economist and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus poses during a photo session in Paris on November 6, 2017.
Bangladeshi economist and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus poses during a photo session in Paris on November 6, 2017.(AFP)
At an address in Prague in August 1996, Lech Walesa said that while the transition from capitalism to communism was easy, the transition from communism to capitalism wasn’t. “It is easy to make fish soup from the aquarium with living gold-fish, but just imagine what a challenge it is to try to make the aquarium with living goldfish out of the fish-soup,” he said, adding that this was what was being attempted in his native Poland.
Walesa’s fellow Nobel prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, has now drawn up a proposal to make soup out of an aquarium. Riding on the contested success of the micro credit movement, he presents a case for reinventing mainstream economics in A World of Three Zeroes. The proposal for the new economics aims to create a world with zero unemployment and zero poverty in an eco-friendly world that will have zero net carbon emissions.
In a realm where money begets money, Adam Smith’s invisible hand hasn’t served the poor which led economist Thomas Piketty to argue that progressive taxation alone can remedy growing income imbalance. Yunus’ contention is that neither of the two (progressive taxation or the invisible hand) will change the picture. He believes the solution rests on unleashing the entrepreneurial skills of the bottom billions in creating a mass base for building models of ‘social business’. The world needs a new economic system that unleashes altruism as a creative force by assuming that human beings are born entrepreneurs and not mere job seekers. In his hortatory writing, the author calls for a hybrid business model that is neither quite for-profit nor quite non-profit but one that partakes virtues of both in leveraging the innate human desire to be selfless.
Drawing inspiration from several of his social business models currently operative across the world, including Golden Bees in Uganda and the Human Harbor Corporation in Japan, Yunus is convinced that the old ways of addressing poverty and unemployment through charitable efforts and government programmes cannot generate the desired 40 million jobs every year. The idea seems to have merit, and is the reason leading global companies like Renault, McCain, Danone and Essilor have contributed funds to run social businesses for providing multiple services to the needy in poor suburbs in both developed and developing countries. The bottom line, the author argues, is to give people the resources and knowhow such that they can grow and become part of the economic mainstream.
The proposition is promising but, like the micro-credit model, the idea of the social business smacks of overt optimism. That both are borne out of the capitalist economy can in itself be their undoing. Since the idea of social business is but an extended version of the micro credit model of entrepreneurship, its performance has a direct corollary on the future of social business. Despite claims, the short-term gains from micro loans have not translated into the creation of long-term assets. This has trapped a large number of poor recipients into a debt cycle. Barring a few exceptions, the majority of microfinance institutions have been on a profit-making spree at the cost of poor lenders. This is why it has remained a low-hanging fruit of the capitalist economy. Under the circumstances, will social business be any different?
Yunus’ intentions are noble and his approach is balanced and practical. The case for social business has been persuasively made but the precondition of a near ideal sociopolitical ecosystem to nurture it seems preposterous. Left on its own without a regulatory framework, there is a risk that unscrupulous capitalists will exploit the opportunity to colour their profit-making business as a ‘social business’. While no society is driven by greed alone it is also true that economics has remained the science of self-interest. It seems unreal to expect economic man and capitalist market to turn away from profit maximization.
The capitalist economy continues to build its social image through charities. But the trouble with a charity dollar is that it can be used only once while a social business investment dollar is recycled indefinitely. Yunus is convinced that a dollar invested in social business can contribute significantly to transforming local and national economies. Clearly, there is a need to rethink the tenets of free-market capitalism and the marketplace itself. Add to this the question of the coexistence of social business within the dominant world of the capitalist economy, and the risk of the former being usurped by the latter.
Read more: Run small finance banks like a social business: Grameen Bank’s Muhammad Yunus
While it is true that only re-envisioned economics will recognize humans as natural entrepreneurs, best served not by jobs but by opportunities to make their own ventures in the marketplace, the challenge of re-imagining mainstream economics can only be seen as a work in progress. Yunus generates excitement about the potential of turning things around but there are more questions than answers in his vision. Though the humane proposal for economic reform is far from practical, A World of Three Zeroes does provide provocations for a wider engagement with development economists and specialists.
Sudhirendar Sharma is an independent writer, researcher and academic.