No, I did not dream to be a cheer writer.While I may have been tempted to do so, I realize that would have been a total career-limiting move! And even though the content of the blog needs to stay in the precise issue oriented short discussion, I thought I'd give some props and kudos to our own Nobel laureate who really erected our head for ever!
Yes, he deserves it! Nobel Laureate Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus was named by President Obama among the 16 Recipients of 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom. America’s highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom is awarded to individuals who make an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. This year’s awardees were chosen for their work as agents of change. President Obama said, “These outstanding men and women represent an incredible diversity of backgrounds. Their tremendous accomplishments span fields from economics to poverty alleviation efforts, science to sports, from fine arts to foreign affairs. Yet they share one overarching trait: Each has been an agent of change. Each saw an imperfect world and set about improving it, often overcoming great obstacles along the way. Their relentless devotion to breaking down barriers and lifting up their fellow citizens sets a standard to which we all should strive. It is my great honor to award them the Medal of Freedom.” President Obama will present the awards at a ceremony on Wednesday, August 12. Among others receiving the award for 2009 are Nancy Goodman Brinker, Dr. Pedro Jose Greer, Stephen Hawking, Jack Kemp, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Billie Jean King, Reverend Lowery, Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow, Harvey Milk, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Sidney Poitier, Chita Rivera, Mary Robinson, Janet Davison Rowley, M.D., and Desmond Tutu for the outstanding contributions to the various aspects of human life.
So, I thought it is worth analyzing the life and works of Dr. Muhammad Yunus since he is the only ever Nobel Prize winner from a poor country like Bangladesh.
The professor was born in 1940, the son of a goldsmith in Chittagong, then in East Bengal currently Bangladesh, one of nine children. He excelled at school and, in 1965, was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to take a PhD at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. He married and had a child with an American woman but she was miserable living in Bangladesh. In 1980, he married his second wife, Afrozi, a Bangladeshi teacher and researcher in advanced physics. They now have a child, Deena. It is his mother who had the most profound influence on his life, however. He had watched her, as he grew up, making extra jewellery which she sold so she would always have a little to give to poor relatives. This imbued in him the sense that having enough yourself was only as important as helping others. His epiphany came while he was teaching at Chittagong University during the 1974 famine and skeletal figures began arriving in nearby towns and villages. "I wanted to run away from these theories, from my textbooks." he says." I wanted to discover the real- life economics played out in the neighboring village, the people of Jobra would become my teachers." Jobra became both his laboratory and his road to Damascus as he began to take what he calls a "worm’s eye view” of the lives of the destitute. What he found was tremendous potential. “In such conditions the fact these people are even alive means they are skilled, yet they are treated as if they have nothings to offer." he says. His economist’s eye also began to see how the poorest were enslaved to loan sharks who lent money at 10 per cent interest per week, sometimes even per day. They were allowed just enough to keep them alive but not enough to escape the money lenders.
In 1974 Professor Yunus, an economist interviewed in a poor village a woman stool maker who had every week to borrow the equivalent of 1.5d (TK100) to buy the raw bamboo. When this woman paid back, she only made a penny profit. Professor Yunus saw in her the dilemma of poor people all over the world, and after rebuffs, scorn, and skepticism from orthodox banks, set up the Grameen Bank, in 1983 in his native village Jobra, Bangladesh to provide small, low-interest loans to the poor to help better their livelihood and communities, which lends minute sums of money to people who cannot get credit. History was made and "Micro credit" was born.
Yunus lent the equivalent of $27 from his own pocket to 42 basket weavers. He found that even with such a small amount it was possible for them not simply to survive but also to create the spark of initiative and enterprise needed to pull themselves out of poverty against the advice of the banks and government, he carried on giving micro loans". Despite its high interest rates and lending to poor individuals, Grameen Bank is sustainable and 98% of its loans are repaid -- higher than other banking systems. This scheme has triumphantly worked and whole districts in many countries have been transformed and that was the beginning of journey for Dr. Yunus...In these days of the Third Way, it is no wonder this man, a true visionary, is feted by Western governments, borrowed from by the Clintons, and studied by Milbank.
Interesting facts to notice; Ammajan Amina, an illiterate beggar in her 40s, was one of Grameen Bank’s first clients. Of her six children, four had died of hunger or disease and her husband had spent most of their assets pm trying to find a cure for an illness which took his life. After his death, Amina was left with only her house and two daughters have to feed. For awhile, she sold home – made cakes and biscuits but ran out of money to buy ingredients and turned to begging. One night, she came home to find her brother- in- low had sold their tin roof. Later, monsoon rains destroyed the mud walls and she found her elder daughter dead in the rubble. When Grameen workers found her, she was hungry and desperate. The bank lent her some money to start making bamboo baskets; she made a profit, repaid her loan and then took another to develop her business. She was now a businesswoman, not a beggar "We have two million such life stories." says Professor Yunus’ "One for each of our members."
Just unimaginable to realize-There are many ways for people to die, but somehow dying of starvation is the most unacceptable of all. It happens in slow motion. Second by second the distance between life and death becomes smaller. At one point life and death are in such close proximity one can hardly see the difference and one literally doesn’t know if the mother and child prostrate on the ground are of this world or the next Death happens so quietly so inexorable, you don’t even hear it. And all this happens because a person does not have a handful of food to eat at each meat. The tiny baby, who does not yet understand the mystery of the world, cries and cries and finally falls asleep without the milk tit needs so badly. The next day maybe it won’t even have the strength to cry.
Witnessed enough during this deep recession, If you want to see a western banker after a natural disaster or/and man made financial collapse had wiped out most of all his business clients you would be in for a grim hour. That is exactly the position that Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Bangladesh Grameen Bank is in. Social barriers, political embattlement, so-called civil society, Recurring floods, worst in the global history covered most of the land and affect the total population years after years. But professor Yunus is totally amazingly, unclamped. He is a paradox a personally modest man is traditional dress who lives simply in a small flat " over the shop " an ambitious businessman and visionary convinced that he has picked one of the lock that imprison the poor. His Key is credit –minute sums borrowed mainly by illiterate women set up the smallest imaginable enterprises .He calls it micro credit, and it works After 26 years spent fighting the skeptics, Grameen is a $2.5 billion business . Professor Yunus could easily have prospered as one of the elite band of international economics that he has, instead, spent much of his life puzzling and annoying with heretical ideas about the bank ability of the un bankable. His heart plainly, movingly, soft but there is nothing soft centered about his economics.
In Bangladesh today Grameen has Total number of borrowers of 7.90 million, 97 per cent of them are women and more than 98 per cent of loans are repaid, a recovery rate higher than for any other banking system. Grameen Bank has 2,557 branches. It works in 84,487 villages. Total staff is 23,323. Over time, His grameen model has proved extremely successful, Since his initial loan of twenty- seven dollars made in 1976, Total amount of loan disbursed by Grameen Bank, since inception, is Tk 458.61 billion (US $ 8.17 billion). Out of this, Tk 407.90 billion (US $ 7.25 billion) has been repaid. Current amount of outstanding loans stands at TK 50.71 billion (US $ 734.65 million). During the past 12 months (from July’08 to June'09) Grameen Bank disbursed Tk. 71.85 billion (US $ 1044.59 million). Monthly average loan disbursement over the past 12 month was Tk 5.99 billion (US $ 87.05million). Micro lending has now spread beyond Bangladesh to America and Western Europe as well as developing countries Throughout Grameen’s growth; To date, Grameen – type projects have sprung up in places as diverse as Vietnam, china, the Philippines, and the ‘South side of Chicago and spread over more than 50 countries.
Yunus has avoided the involvement of international development specialists, decrying them as limousine liberals, and instead has sought out private donors and foundations for support. In this way, he has aligned himself with current nonprofit economic development initiatives that cultivate private- sector, as opposed to government, funding. Anyone who doubts the potential power of “new capitalism” to transform the lives of the poor or the world for better should do deep dive into the Grameen Bank model by Dr. Yunus. It is an amazing account of the way in which one man with a vision and the right values can turn the established order on its ear. But however powerful such revolutions in commercial and business culture may eventually be, they need to be accompanied by parallel revolutions in government and governance.
Yes, he deserves it! Nobel Laureate Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus was named by President Obama among the 16 Recipients of 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom. America’s highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom is awarded to individuals who make an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. This year’s awardees were chosen for their work as agents of change. President Obama said, “These outstanding men and women represent an incredible diversity of backgrounds. Their tremendous accomplishments span fields from economics to poverty alleviation efforts, science to sports, from fine arts to foreign affairs. Yet they share one overarching trait: Each has been an agent of change. Each saw an imperfect world and set about improving it, often overcoming great obstacles along the way. Their relentless devotion to breaking down barriers and lifting up their fellow citizens sets a standard to which we all should strive. It is my great honor to award them the Medal of Freedom.” President Obama will present the awards at a ceremony on Wednesday, August 12. Among others receiving the award for 2009 are Nancy Goodman Brinker, Dr. Pedro Jose Greer, Stephen Hawking, Jack Kemp, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Billie Jean King, Reverend Lowery, Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow, Harvey Milk, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Sidney Poitier, Chita Rivera, Mary Robinson, Janet Davison Rowley, M.D., and Desmond Tutu for the outstanding contributions to the various aspects of human life.
So, I thought it is worth analyzing the life and works of Dr. Muhammad Yunus since he is the only ever Nobel Prize winner from a poor country like Bangladesh.
The professor was born in 1940, the son of a goldsmith in Chittagong, then in East Bengal currently Bangladesh, one of nine children. He excelled at school and, in 1965, was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to take a PhD at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. He married and had a child with an American woman but she was miserable living in Bangladesh. In 1980, he married his second wife, Afrozi, a Bangladeshi teacher and researcher in advanced physics. They now have a child, Deena. It is his mother who had the most profound influence on his life, however. He had watched her, as he grew up, making extra jewellery which she sold so she would always have a little to give to poor relatives. This imbued in him the sense that having enough yourself was only as important as helping others. His epiphany came while he was teaching at Chittagong University during the 1974 famine and skeletal figures began arriving in nearby towns and villages. "I wanted to run away from these theories, from my textbooks." he says." I wanted to discover the real- life economics played out in the neighboring village, the people of Jobra would become my teachers." Jobra became both his laboratory and his road to Damascus as he began to take what he calls a "worm’s eye view” of the lives of the destitute. What he found was tremendous potential. “In such conditions the fact these people are even alive means they are skilled, yet they are treated as if they have nothings to offer." he says. His economist’s eye also began to see how the poorest were enslaved to loan sharks who lent money at 10 per cent interest per week, sometimes even per day. They were allowed just enough to keep them alive but not enough to escape the money lenders.
In 1974 Professor Yunus, an economist interviewed in a poor village a woman stool maker who had every week to borrow the equivalent of 1.5d (TK100) to buy the raw bamboo. When this woman paid back, she only made a penny profit. Professor Yunus saw in her the dilemma of poor people all over the world, and after rebuffs, scorn, and skepticism from orthodox banks, set up the Grameen Bank, in 1983 in his native village Jobra, Bangladesh to provide small, low-interest loans to the poor to help better their livelihood and communities, which lends minute sums of money to people who cannot get credit. History was made and "Micro credit" was born.
Yunus lent the equivalent of $27 from his own pocket to 42 basket weavers. He found that even with such a small amount it was possible for them not simply to survive but also to create the spark of initiative and enterprise needed to pull themselves out of poverty against the advice of the banks and government, he carried on giving micro loans". Despite its high interest rates and lending to poor individuals, Grameen Bank is sustainable and 98% of its loans are repaid -- higher than other banking systems. This scheme has triumphantly worked and whole districts in many countries have been transformed and that was the beginning of journey for Dr. Yunus...In these days of the Third Way, it is no wonder this man, a true visionary, is feted by Western governments, borrowed from by the Clintons, and studied by Milbank.
Interesting facts to notice; Ammajan Amina, an illiterate beggar in her 40s, was one of Grameen Bank’s first clients. Of her six children, four had died of hunger or disease and her husband had spent most of their assets pm trying to find a cure for an illness which took his life. After his death, Amina was left with only her house and two daughters have to feed. For awhile, she sold home – made cakes and biscuits but ran out of money to buy ingredients and turned to begging. One night, she came home to find her brother- in- low had sold their tin roof. Later, monsoon rains destroyed the mud walls and she found her elder daughter dead in the rubble. When Grameen workers found her, she was hungry and desperate. The bank lent her some money to start making bamboo baskets; she made a profit, repaid her loan and then took another to develop her business. She was now a businesswoman, not a beggar "We have two million such life stories." says Professor Yunus’ "One for each of our members."
Just unimaginable to realize-There are many ways for people to die, but somehow dying of starvation is the most unacceptable of all. It happens in slow motion. Second by second the distance between life and death becomes smaller. At one point life and death are in such close proximity one can hardly see the difference and one literally doesn’t know if the mother and child prostrate on the ground are of this world or the next Death happens so quietly so inexorable, you don’t even hear it. And all this happens because a person does not have a handful of food to eat at each meat. The tiny baby, who does not yet understand the mystery of the world, cries and cries and finally falls asleep without the milk tit needs so badly. The next day maybe it won’t even have the strength to cry.
Witnessed enough during this deep recession, If you want to see a western banker after a natural disaster or/and man made financial collapse had wiped out most of all his business clients you would be in for a grim hour. That is exactly the position that Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Bangladesh Grameen Bank is in. Social barriers, political embattlement, so-called civil society, Recurring floods, worst in the global history covered most of the land and affect the total population years after years. But professor Yunus is totally amazingly, unclamped. He is a paradox a personally modest man is traditional dress who lives simply in a small flat " over the shop " an ambitious businessman and visionary convinced that he has picked one of the lock that imprison the poor. His Key is credit –minute sums borrowed mainly by illiterate women set up the smallest imaginable enterprises .He calls it micro credit, and it works After 26 years spent fighting the skeptics, Grameen is a $2.5 billion business . Professor Yunus could easily have prospered as one of the elite band of international economics that he has, instead, spent much of his life puzzling and annoying with heretical ideas about the bank ability of the un bankable. His heart plainly, movingly, soft but there is nothing soft centered about his economics.
In Bangladesh today Grameen has Total number of borrowers of 7.90 million, 97 per cent of them are women and more than 98 per cent of loans are repaid, a recovery rate higher than for any other banking system. Grameen Bank has 2,557 branches. It works in 84,487 villages. Total staff is 23,323. Over time, His grameen model has proved extremely successful, Since his initial loan of twenty- seven dollars made in 1976, Total amount of loan disbursed by Grameen Bank, since inception, is Tk 458.61 billion (US $ 8.17 billion). Out of this, Tk 407.90 billion (US $ 7.25 billion) has been repaid. Current amount of outstanding loans stands at TK 50.71 billion (US $ 734.65 million). During the past 12 months (from July’08 to June'09) Grameen Bank disbursed Tk. 71.85 billion (US $ 1044.59 million). Monthly average loan disbursement over the past 12 month was Tk 5.99 billion (US $ 87.05million). Micro lending has now spread beyond Bangladesh to America and Western Europe as well as developing countries Throughout Grameen’s growth; To date, Grameen – type projects have sprung up in places as diverse as Vietnam, china, the Philippines, and the ‘South side of Chicago and spread over more than 50 countries.
Yunus has avoided the involvement of international development specialists, decrying them as limousine liberals, and instead has sought out private donors and foundations for support. In this way, he has aligned himself with current nonprofit economic development initiatives that cultivate private- sector, as opposed to government, funding. Anyone who doubts the potential power of “new capitalism” to transform the lives of the poor or the world for better should do deep dive into the Grameen Bank model by Dr. Yunus. It is an amazing account of the way in which one man with a vision and the right values can turn the established order on its ear. But however powerful such revolutions in commercial and business culture may eventually be, they need to be accompanied by parallel revolutions in government and governance.
For years, Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammad Yunus has helped the poor people of Bangladesh by giving them "microcredit" to start businesses. One such enterprise is a cell phone service that provides service and equipment to 260,000 village "phone ladies" across the nation. His profound sense of social responsibility which leads his to shun a detached academic life is repeatedly illustrated in both his autobiography and his system of credit we are granted access to an individual genuinely concerned with the fate of the poor one whose pragmatic insights into the processes of the world economic system contribute hugely to a grass roots model for development. Yunus micro credit system expends to a whole range of social concerns such as gender and social equality birth control education hygiene sanitation housing communications and environmental concerns.
So, in recognition of his works, December 10, 2006, Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi economist known as the "banker to the poor," was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Sunday in Oslo, Norway. The "microcredit" pioneer shared the award with his Grameen Bank for helping people rise above poverty by giving them small, usually unsecured loans. Yunus is the first Nobel Prize winner from Bangladesh, a poverty-stricken nation of about 141 million people located on the Bay on Bengal. "I am so, so happy, it's really a great news for the whole nation," Yunus told The Associated Press shortly after the prize was announced in 2006.
"I firmly believe that we can create a poverty-free world if we collectively believe in it," Yunus said. "The only place you would be able to see poverty is in a poverty museum."
During the reception ceremony at Washington DC, I heard some of the famous quote by Dr. Muhammad Yunus in live:
"We will create a poverty museum by 2030. We will start with Bangladesh."
"Poverty in the world is an artificial creation. It does not belong to the human civilization."
"Poor people are not asking for charity. Charity is not a solution for poverty."
Question is - how Grameen Bank works? Grameen Bank was the first lender to hand out microcredit, giving very small loans to poor Bangladeshis who did not qualify for loans from conventional banks. No collateral is needed and repayment is based on an honor system. Anyone can qualify for a loan - the average is about $200 - but recipients are put in groups of five. Once two members of the group have borrowed money, the other three must wait for the funds to be repaid before they get a loan. Grameen, which means rural in the Bengali language, says the method encourages social responsibility. The results are hard to argue with - the bank says it has a 98 percent repayment rate.
"I firmly believe that we can create a poverty-free world if we collectively believe in it," Yunus said. "The only place you would be able to see poverty is in a poverty museum."
During the reception ceremony at Washington DC, I heard some of the famous quote by Dr. Muhammad Yunus in live:
"We will create a poverty museum by 2030. We will start with Bangladesh."
"Poverty in the world is an artificial creation. It does not belong to the human civilization."
"Poor people are not asking for charity. Charity is not a solution for poverty."
Question is - how Grameen Bank works? Grameen Bank was the first lender to hand out microcredit, giving very small loans to poor Bangladeshis who did not qualify for loans from conventional banks. No collateral is needed and repayment is based on an honor system. Anyone can qualify for a loan - the average is about $200 - but recipients are put in groups of five. Once two members of the group have borrowed money, the other three must wait for the funds to be repaid before they get a loan. Grameen, which means rural in the Bengali language, says the method encourages social responsibility. The results are hard to argue with - the bank says it has a 98 percent repayment rate.
If it is true what we have discussed so far, further questions arise - Why is this different from other loan programs? Unlike other loan programs, clients are not required to provide collateral to receive loans. This allows people who would not qualify for loans at traditional financial institutions to receive credit. MFIs (micro finance institutions) are also very client-friendly; most usually go to their clients to provide loans and receive payments, rather than requiring their clients to come to them. A few of them also use local centers where clients gather to conduct financial transactions and receive other social services. The peer support system practiced by many microfinance programs is another unique feature. When clients gather weekly at “center meetings” to make loan payments, or informally in smaller support groups, they share successes and discuss ideas for solving business and personal problems. Maybe most importantly, they empower each other to stay on the path out of poverty. This mutual support strengthens their resolve. In addition, MFI staff members share vital information and resources to improve their clients’ well being. This might include bringing in local nurses to provide health and nutrition counseling, or providing help with literacy. .
Many critics, and social gurus questioned - Are these people really poor? Grameen Foundation’s MFI partners serve very poor people, many of whom are in rural areas and live on only a dollar or so a day. While the exact dollar figures for measuring their level of poverty may vary from country to country, one thing is constant: they are literally struggling to live from day to day. Don't you feel curious, why do Grameen focus on women? Grameen proclaimed, Women have proven to be the best poverty fighters. Experience and studies have shown that they use the profits from their businesses to send their children to school, improve their families’ living conditions and nutrition, and expand their businesses.
It came to my minds many times; can very poor people actually start and run a successful business? According to study,Grameen proved with very absolute model. Many poor people have skills that can quickly become an income producing activity. With small sums of money, they are able to purchase the inventory, supplies and tools needed to start or expand micro businesses that range from weaving, sewing, grinding grain, reselling produce, and growing and selling vegetables, to catching and selling fishing, wholesaling dried fish, raising chickens to sell eggs, and breeding livestock. They also help the rural poor start technology micro businesses, such as selling cell phone time to other villagers, which also provides valuable means of communications and access to vital information. These small ventures can grow into vibrant community businesses. One micro entrepreneur in the Philippines dried fish caught by her husband and sold them to local markets. The demand grew quickly and she then hired her neighbors to help. Now, nearly 20 neighbors earn an income from her family fish business, and her entire community is benefiting.
I was very interested to know that do very poor people repay their loans? Grameen proclaimed, microfinance clients are excellent credit risks. The repayment rate is between 95 and 98 percent. In fact, it is higher than the repayment rate of student loans and credit card debts in the United States. They value the opportunity to improve their lives.
What do you think? Is Grameen exploiting the innocent poor people? Or do people really get out of poverty? Grameen defended that Microfinance is not a silver bullet. It will not defeat global poverty by itself. But, it is an important part of the solution. Microfinance provides a stable and sustainable source of income that enables clients to climb steadily out of poverty, while providing better living conditions and opportunities for their families. For some, that progress means moving from a house made of mud to one made of wood. For others, it means better nutrition and the money to finally send their children to school. A 1998 World Bank study showed that, in Bangladesh, Grameen Bank’s clients were escaping poverty at the rate of 10,000 per month.
I’ve heard that MFIs charge a high rate of interest for the loans. What you think? Grameen explained- like other financial institutions, microfinance institutions (MFIs) charge interest for the loans they make to their clients. Government of Bangladesh has fixed interest rate for government-run microcredit programmes at 11 per cent at flat rate. It amounts to about 22 per cent at declining basis. Grameen Bank's interest rate is lower than government rate, defendant by Grameen Bank authority. There are four interest rates for loans from Grameen Bank: 20% for income generating loans, 8% for housing loans, 5% for student loans, and 0% (interest-free) loans for Struggling Members (beggars). All interests are simple interest, calculated on declining balance method. This means, if a borrower takes an income-generating loan of say, Tk 1,000, and pays back the entire amount within a year in weekly installments, she'll pay a total amount of Tk 1,100, i.e. Tk 1,000 as principal, plus Tk 100 as interest for the year, equivalent to 10% flat rate. Without microfinance programs, the most common alternative for very poor people is the local “money lenders,” who regularly charge between 120 and 300 percent.
It is a sad fact of human nature that for every Muhammad Yunus, particularly country like Bangladesh, there are always unscrupulous competitors ready and nasty politics, corrupted leadership and unjust social barriers always there to cut the corners. Let’s make a movement to help this fighter fight for the right cause of the humanity.
Finally, 'Banker of the poor' a very splendid book, by Dr. Muhammad Yunus, which ends with a hopeful message: “we have created a slavery-free world, smallpox free world, an apartheid-free world. Creating a poverty free would be greater than all this accomplishments...This would be a world that we could all be proud to live in.’’ "Can we really create a poverty free world?" asks Muhammad Yunus at the end of his autobiography. Yes, he says, and he believes that he has the key; credit. According o Mr. Yunus, the surest route out of destitution for the world’s poorest people lies not in aid, welfare payments or loans from development banks to governments, but in lending tiny amounts of money directly to the poor, 'Banker of the poor' the story of both Mr. Yunus’s life and Grameen Bank, the institution he founded, is his account of how he has put his belief into practice. We are hopeful to see a poverty free world some day by the noble efforts by Dr. Muhammad Yunus and by many invisible philanthropic hearts all around the world.
Finally, 'Banker of the poor' a very splendid book, by Dr. Muhammad Yunus, which ends with a hopeful message: “we have created a slavery-free world, smallpox free world, an apartheid-free world. Creating a poverty free would be greater than all this accomplishments...This would be a world that we could all be proud to live in.’’ "Can we really create a poverty free world?" asks Muhammad Yunus at the end of his autobiography. Yes, he says, and he believes that he has the key; credit. According o Mr. Yunus, the surest route out of destitution for the world’s poorest people lies not in aid, welfare payments or loans from development banks to governments, but in lending tiny amounts of money directly to the poor, 'Banker of the poor' the story of both Mr. Yunus’s life and Grameen Bank, the institution he founded, is his account of how he has put his belief into practice. We are hopeful to see a poverty free world some day by the noble efforts by Dr. Muhammad Yunus and by many invisible philanthropic hearts all around the world.
Nicely portrayed ! We are proud of you prof yunus.
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