Compare_Mandela_vs_Yunus

Muhammad Yunus was born 1940 in Eastern Bengal. He completed his economics studies in 1961 and his PhD in 1969 from the Vanderbilt University in the USA where he was an assistance professor for economics at Tennessee State University. Inspired by the birth of Bangladesh in 1971, he returned to returned to that country in 1974 and got actively involved in poverty reduction after observing the famine of 1974. Two years later, during a countryside visit, Yunus discovered that a very small loan could make an enormous difference to a poor person’s life. People had to take out loans at usurious rates for buying raw material and had to give up their profits to the moneylenders. Shocked by this reality, he lent $27.00 from his own pocket to 42 people in the village to help them pay back their loans to the loan sharks and be free. When he approached traditional banks to lend to the poor, he found that they were not interested as the poor were not considered creditworthy. Yunus strongly believed that, given the chance, the poor would repay the borrowed money, and that it would help them work their way out of poverty. In 1983 he founded the Grameen Bank (GB), specialising in making small loans to the poor. 97% of the borrowers are women and over 97% of the loans are paid back, a recovery rate higher than any other banking system. In 2006, Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with GB, for their efforts to create economic and social development. The Norwegian Nobel Committee stated: “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 GB, developed micro-credit into an ever more important instrument in the struggle against poverty”. Besides being CEO of GB, Yunus as a true entrepreneur has also founded a number of companies in Bangladesh to address diverse issues of poverty and development. His books, philosophy and goals are known around the world and through public speaking and teaching he inspires world influencers about his mission a ‘world without poverty’(Yunus & Jolis, 2011, p.24-29).