2. Muhammad Yunus (Bengali: মুহাম্মদ ইউনূস; born 28 June
1940) is a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker,
economist and civil society leader who was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering
the concepts of microcredit and microfinance.
The Grameen Bank is a microfinance organization and
community development bank.
INTRODUCTION TO MUHAMMAD YUNUS
3. One of his most famous achievements is “microcredit”, where
poor people had access to financial support and loans as low
as $30 in order to start businesses. Yunus describes this as a
“social business”.
Before his creation of “microcredit”, he felt that the poor who
wanted to start businesses had to rely on loan sharks as they
were too poor to opt for traditional bank loans.
As nobody tried to change the above fact, he decided to bring
financial assistance to poor people: especially the women.
INTRODUCTION TO MUHAMMAD YUNUS
4. In 1976, during visits to the poorest households in the village
of Jobra near Chittagong University, Yunus discovered that
very small loans could make a disproportionate difference to
a poor person. In December that year, he secured a loan from
a government bank to lend to the poor.
On 1 October 1983, the pilot project began operation as a
full-fledged bank for poor Bangladeshis and was renamed
Grameen Bank ("Village Bank").
In time, the Grameen initiative grew into a multi-faceted
group of profitable and non-profit ventures, including major
projects like Grameen Trust and Grameen Fund.
HISTORY OF MUHAMMAD YUNUS’
VENTURE
5. By July 2007, Grameen had issued US$6.38 billion to 7.4
million borrowers.
Yunus was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, along with
Grameen Bank, for their efforts to create economic and social
development.
The success of the Grameen microfinance model inspired
similar efforts in about 100 developing countries and even in
developed countries including the United States.
Women aided by the effort are able to make jobs for
themselves, by using loans to create income-generating
activity.
IMPACT OF MUHAMMAD YUNUS’ VENTURE
6. Members of the venture:
Aaron Heng (Colosse)
Evans Seow (Ephesus)
Clayten How (Colosse)
Adam Choo (Phillipi)
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Yunus
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/04/25/muhammad-
yunus-microcredit-column/2112371/
CREDITS