Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi banker and economist. A former professor of economics, he is famous for his successful application of the concept of microcredit, the extension of small loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. Yunus is also the founder of Grameen Bank.
In 2006, Yunus and the bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In the prize announcement The Norwegian Nobel Committee mentioned: "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 himself has received several other national and international honors. He is the author of Banker to the Poor and a founding board member of Grameen Foundation.
Muhammad Yunus completed his BA and MA in economics at Dhaka University. He was offered a Fulbright scholarship in 1965 to study in the United States. He obtained his Ph.D. in economics from Vanderbilt University.
We created a company, yogurt company to make yogurts in collaboration with Dannon, another big international company, maybe familiar. So what we do in Bangladesh, there are lots of malnourished children in Bangladesh among poor families, millions of them...(Full transcript available to logged in subscribers.).
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