Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 along with his Grameen Bank for pioneering the concept of micro-finance in his native Bangladesh--a financial model that has now spread across much of the Third World and intrigued large segments of the business communities of the developed world as well.
In this interview with Forbes.com Executive Editor David A. Andelman, he talks about his model, his dream and his new book-- Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism, Public Affairs 2007, 261 pages, $26.

Subprime Lender

Wall Street Journal
March 1, 2008 By EMILY PARKER

In a Jackson Heights shop for colorful saris and glittering bracelets, several women have gathered to meet with their banker. They laugh and chat in Bengali. Sultana, a 39-year-old woman wearing a headscarf, hands him $128 in cash. She is making her first repayment of the $3,000, six-month loan she'll use to help with her husband's candy store.
Welcome to Grameen America, Muhammad Yunus's brand-new microfinance venture. Mr. Yunus, along with his Bangladesh-originated Grameen Bank, won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for battling poverty by lending out small sums of money to the poor. The loans are mainly for income-generating activities -- from making baskets to raising chickens. Since its establishment in 1983, Grameen has given out billions of dollars in loans, helping to pull families out of poverty and inspiring similar operations all over the world.

Yunus trashes

Yunus trashes reports of crimes by Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia

Daily Star 27 February 2008

Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus, now on a visit to Saudi Arabia, has brushed aside allegations in Saudi media that a large number of Bangladeshis are breaking the law in the kingdom.

Any people can turn to crimes anywhere and so it is not fair to single out a certain nationality, he said during a reception hosted by Consulate General of Bangladesh at Al-Salam Holiday Inn in Jeddah Sunday evening, daily Saudi Gazette reported yesterday.

A Capitalist Jolt for Charity

New York Times
February 24, 2008    By STEVE LOHR
    IN the summer of 2005, Miles Gilburne and Nina Zolt had long talks over dinner in their Washington home about what to do next. For more than six years, Mr. Gilburne, a former AOL executive, and his wife, Ms. Zolt, a former lawyer, had supported a philanthropy that used books and online tools to enhance skills of inner-city students.
    The program, which Ms. Zolt directed, had been moderately successful. Students liked writing online about books and sharing their ideas with Internet pen pals, including adult mentors. Many teachers embraced the project, called In2Books, and participating students outscored their peers in standardized tests.

Grameen in America

Dawn

February 25, 2008 By SULTAN AHMAD

World food prices have been rising for long. They had more than doubled within the last two years and within a year the price index of the Economist of London has registered a rise of 54.1 per cent. The process continues to the glee of those who are growing food crops.

Spurred by such developments, farmers in Pakistan are calling for support prices at the world level. If that demand had been met, wheat would have cost more than Rs40 a kilo.

MIT's South Asian commencement speaker

Bangladeshi to become Bangladeshi to become MIT’s first South Asian commencement speaker Muhammad Yunus, microcredit pioneer who won 2006 Nobel Prize By JULIE MASIS
Muhammad Yunus will give MIT’s commencement speech this year.
Issue Date: January 16-31, 2008, Posted On: 25 January 2008
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A Nobel Peace Prize laureate from Bangladesh has been chosen as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s commencement speaker this year, marking the first time that a South Asian will be a commencement speaker at the Institute, according to MIT spokeswoman Patti Richards.
Microcredit pioneer Muhammad Yunus, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for providing credit to 7.3 million poor villagers in Bangladesh without asking for collateral, will deliver the commencement address at MIT on June 6.MIT’s first South Asian commencement speaker

January 14 as Muhammad Yunus Day

Mayor of Houston declares January 14 as Muhammad Yunus Day

Houston, one of the America's largest cities, has declared January 14 'Muhammad Yunus Day' to honour Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus who is currently on a tour of the US. Mayor Bill White made the declaration on Monday at a reception accorded to Prof Yunus, who was visiting Houston, Texas, as part of his whistle-stop tour to promote his new book 'Creating a world without poverty: Social business and the future of capitalism'. The mayor also handed over a copy of the proclamation to Prof Yunus at the function attended by over 500 personalities, reports News World.

Prof Yunus described how micro-credit and social business can help alleviate poverty and move a country like Bangladesh forward. He also addressed two other reception ceremonies hosted by the World Affairs Council and the Bangladesh-American Society. Over 2,000 people attended the functions.

Source: The Daily Star

create a world without poverty

We need 'social business' to couple the human heart to the capitalist system. By Muhammad Yunus
Christian Science Monitor from the February 15, 2008 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0215/p09s01-coop.html

Bill Gates caused a stir in Davos last month with his call for "creative capitalism." He pointed out that while capitalism is "responsible for the great innovations that have improved the lives of billions ... to harness this power so it benefits everyone, we need to refine the system."
I see traditional capitalism as a half-developed structure. It ignores the humanity within all of us.
Moneymaking is an important part of humanity, but it is not the only part. Caring, concern, sharing, empathy – all of these aspects also must be considered when developing an economic framework that takes the whole person into account.
Enter the missing piece of the global development puzzle: social business.

Yunus takes microfinance to New York

Financial Times By Daniel Pimlott in New York Published: February 15 2008

On the second floor of a run-down building in Queens, squeezed between a sari boutique and a tiny store selling Bollywood DVDs, are two rooms – rented for $1,500 a month – whose occupants have been sent from Bangladesh to end poverty in the US.

These are the offices of the first US outpost of the Grameen Bank, an organisation set up by Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel peace prize winner, and credited with turning the Bangladeshi bank into a revolutionary weapon against global poverty.

The pilot in the US is the first in a developed country, and Mr Yunus plans to use the country as a testing ground for his methods.

Grameen Bank began with a $27 loan

The Guardian on February 16 2008 on p33

His pioneering Grameen Bank began with a $27 loan and went on to lift millions out of poverty. Nobel prize-winner Muhammad Yunus talks to Madeleine Bunting.

The figures tell their own extraordinary story. In 1974, an economics lecturer at the University of Chittagong, Bangladesh, lent $27 to a group of impoverished villagers. He went on to set up Grameen Bank to ensure that the poor had access to loans, and over the next 34 years, it disbursed $6.6bn (£3.6bn) in millions of tiny loans to those living in poverty. Last year, there were 7.4 million borrowers, 98% of whom were women. Most of the lending is for income-generating activities - small street vending, farming. In 1984, Grameen began giving small loans to build and repair homes; a total of 649,714 have now been built. The bank offers student loans - 20,000 last year for higher education - and provides 50,000 scholarships for schooling.

Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation

Financial Times By Peter Thal Larsen in London
Published: February 19 2008 02:00 | Last updated: February 19 2008 02:00

Credit Agricole is to join forces with Grameen Bank, the pioneering provider of microfinance, to support fledgling microlenders around the world.

The French banking group yesterday said it would inject €50m ($73m) to endow a fooundation which will work with Grameen to provide financial guarantees and expertise to help launch microfinance institutions.

Visit to Sidr destructed area

Prof. Yunus talks to survivors of Sidr destructed area.

Highest Honor from Saudi Arabia

Prof. Yunus with HM King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia

Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus receives highest honor from HM King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia on 5th September 2007

World Ahead Program

Dr. Craig Barrett (R) and Dr. Muhammad Yunus (L) at the MOU signing ceremony in Dhaka

Dr. Muhammad Yunus and Dr. Craig Barrett, Chairman of Intel Corporation join together to launch the most comprehensive deployments to date of the Intel World Ahead Program in Bangladesh.

Entrepreneurs of All Time

Business Week Has Named Dr. Yunus as One of "The Greatest Entrepreneurs of All Time"

Prof. Muhammad Yunus Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, founded a banking system 30 years ago to lend small amounts of money to the rural poor in Bangladeshi villages. Most of the low-interest microloans go to women, who use them to start their own profit-making enterprises, mainly in agriculture, crafts, or services.

VIDEO:: PRIZE CEREMONY

2006 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

CEREMONY, OSLO, NORWAY

Please Click Here to Watch

Nobel Prize :: Ceremony Speech

Nobel lecture presented by Prof Muhammad Yunus at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony on Dec 10, 2006 in Oslo

-- Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Honorable Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Grameen Bank and I are deeply honoured to receive this most prestigious of awards. We are thrilled and overwhelmed by this honour.