Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of The Grameen Bank, speaks about his new book Creating a World Without Poverty.
Bio
Robert Saldich
Robert Saldich is the Chair of the Board of Governors at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco, CA.
Dr. Muhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus is founder and managing director of the Grameen Bank, established in Bangladesh in 1983. Dr. Yunus founded the bank with the objective of helping poor people escape from poverty by providing loans on terms suitable to them and by teaching them a few sound principles of finances so they can help themselves.
The Grameen Bank has advanced to the forefront of a burgeoning world movement toward eradicating poverty through micro-lending and its model has been replicated in over 100 countries worldwide.
In 2006, Dr. Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the Bank.
Bank in Bangladesh, the first bank to specialize in small loans for poor individuals. Originated by economist Muhammad Yunus, the Grameen banking model is based on groups of five prospective borrowers who meet regularly with Grameen Bank field managers. Typically, two of the five prospective borrowers are granted loans. If, after a probationary time period, the first two borrowers meet the terms of repayment, then loans are granted to the remaining group members. Peer pressure acts as a replacement for traditional loan collateral. Grameen became an independent bank in 1983; headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh, it has more than 2,200 branches in the country. An average Grameen loan is about $300. The Grameen model has come to symbolize an efficient means of helping the poor by providing them with opportunities to help themselves. Nearly all of Grameen's loan recipients have been women. In 2006 Grameen Bank and Yunus were awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.
This is a great video, i am very glad to have been able to watch it, and look forward to meeting him one day to help start the next 100 million micro businesses in the world.
Thank Professor Muhammed Yunus. Sometimes I meant to hear words of real Jesus, as I picture him. He talks not about the poors he speaks with the poor people. Especially with the women.
I hope we can imagine a world without poverty. This seems to me a good candle in our way in better future.
WOW! absolutely incredible. I love his idea about the Social Stockmarket, i can completely see something based on the Kiva.org model being hugely successful. A free market for individuals investing in successful social companies partnered with regular corporations. The potential seems boundless.