Grameen Bank Founder to Visit Atlanta
Phil Bolton, Atlanta
Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in microfinance, is to be in Georgia this week promoting his most recent book about a “new kind of capitalism.â€Dr. Yunus is to speak at Agnes Scott College’s Presser Hall on Wednesday, Aug. 25, at 8:15 p.m. as part of the AJC Decatur Book Festival.
On Thursday, he is to speak at 5 p.m. in LeCraw Auditorium at the Georgia Tech College of Management, Technology Square.
On Friday, he will be speaking at the Atlanta University Center at 11:30 a.m. and at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton at 3 p.m.
He also is to speak at the Indian American Cultural Association in Smyrna on Saturday, Aug. 28, at 8:30 a.m. before leaving Atlanta.
The events are free and open to the public. The Coca-Cola Co. is joining Agnes Scott as co-sponsor of the Wednesday evening lecture.
“Dr. Yunus has helped to empower millions of poor people, especially women, around the world. We are so excited that Agnes Scott students, and members of the Decatur and Atlanta communities, will have a chance to meet this living legend,†said Elizabeth Kiss, Agnes Scott’s president, in a news release.
In “Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism That Serves Humanity’s Most Pressing Needs,†Dr. Yunus calls for drawing on business expertise to address social issues and helping the underprivileged.
The Bangladeshi economist founded the Grameen Bank, which provides loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans.
He received the Nobel Prize for developing the concepts of microfinance and microcredit, and in 2009 the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the United States.
The Grameen Trust, the international affiliate of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, owns and manages Grameen America, which has branches in New York; Omaha, Neb., and Washington D.C.
Grameen America has attracted the support of U.S. financial institutions including San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co., which acquired Wachovia Corp. in 2008. A Grameen America branch is expected to open in San Francisco this summer.
For more information, call J.D. Fite, Agnes Scott’s senior director of communications, at (404) 471-6484, or send an email to jfite@agnesscott.edu
Go to http://www.addate.com/iaca/EventReg.aspx to register for the IACA event.
Source: http://www.globalatlanta.com/article/24158/
