Nobel peace
prize laureate professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus is the founder of microcredit and
social business. His groundbreaking work in introducing collateral free loans
for the poor in Bangladesh was formalized into a specialized bank for poor in
1983 called Grameen Bank (Rural
Bank) fueled by the belief the credit is a fundamental human right. His
objective was to help poor people escape from poverty by providing loans on
terms suitable to them and by teaching them a few sound financial principles so
they could help themselves. his biggest influence was his
mother, Sufia Khatun, who always helped any poor that knocked on their door.
This inspired him to commit himself to eradication of poverty.
In 2006,Yunus and Grameen
Bank received the Nobel Peace Prize.
What
inspired him to form the Grameen bank?
In 1974, Professor Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi economist from
Chittagong University, led his students on a field trip to a poor village. They
interviewed a woman who made bamboo stools, and learnt that she had to borrow
the equivalent of 15p to buy raw bamboo for each stool made. After repaying the
middleman, sometimes at rates as high as 10% a week, she was left with a penny
profit margin. Had she been able to borrow at more advantageous rates, she
would have been able to amass an economic cushion and raise herself above
subsistence level.
Realizing that there must be something terribly wrong with the economics
he was teaching, Yunus took matters into his own hands, and from his own pocket
lent the equivalent of 17 to 42 basket-weavers. He found that it was possible
with this tiny amount not only to help them survive, but also to create the
spark of personal initiative and enterprise necessary to pull themselves out of
poverty.
Against the advice of banks and government, Yunus carried on giving out
'micro-loans', and in 1983 formed the Grameen Bank, meaning 'village bank'
founded on principles of trust and solidarity.
Grameen Bank:
Headquartered in Washington, DC, Grameen Foundation was founded in 1997 by
friends of Grameen Bank to help microfinance practitioners spread the Grameen
philosophy worldwide. Though we share the ideas of 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate
Professor Muhammad Yunus – a founding director, and a current director emeritus
– Grameen Foundation and Grameen Bank are independent organizations and have no
financial or institutional links.
Differences
between Conventional Banks and Grameen Bank:
From Dr. Yunus'
personal loan of small amounts of money to destitute basket weavers in
Bangladesh in the mid 70's, the Grameen Bank has advanced to the forefront of a
burgeoning world movement toward eradicating poverty through micro lending.
Replica of the Grameen Bank model is being operated in more than 100 countries
worldwide. Today, Grameen Bank itself lends to more than 8.4 million people in
virtually every village in Bangladesh.
What do
we learn from Grameen Bank about organizational development?
The bank is founded on the belief that people have endless potential,
and unleashing their creativity and initiative helps them end poverty. Grameen has offered credit to
classes of people formerly underserved: the poor, women, illiterate, and
unemployed people. Access to credit is based on reasonable terms, such as the
group lending system and weekly-installment payments, with reasonably long
terms of loans, enabling the poor to build on their existing skills to earn
better income in each cycle of loans.
Social
Business and Yunus:
Other than the
work in the field of micro finance, professor Yunus is also known as the
father of social business in idea which has gone from being theory to
an inspiring practical.
A social
business is a business where we don't want to make money.All costs are covered
through the operations so that the business is self-sustaining. The person who
runs a social business is definitely a social entrepreneur, because he is
trying to make a difference. But he is a unique kind among them. His sole
intention is for the business to solve the problem, not make money from it.
Dr. Yunus already has experimented his beautiful and innovative ideas to
serve poor and beggar also. More than fifty five thousands beggars have been
transforming their life through social business, they there owning their
business and severing as a entrepreneur, so that ideas can change the life and
career of the people.
Dr. Yunus will continue to inspire millions of others for many
generations.
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