2. Chosen Entrepreneur : Muhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus was born in Chittagong , British Raj
(Bangladesh) on 28 June 1940. He was the third of nine
children born to Hazi Dula Mia Shoudagar and Sufia Khatun.
In 1949, he passed the matriculation examination
from Chittagong Collegiate School securing the 16th position
among 39,000 students in East Pakistan.
Following his graduation, Yunus joined the Bureau of
Economics as a research assistant to the economical
researches.
3. Muhammad Yunus
During the Bangladeshi liberation war of 1971,he funded a citizen’s
committee and ran the Bangladesh information centre, with other
Bangladeshis living in the united states he helped raised support for the
liberation war, financially . After the war he returned to bangladesh and
was appointed to the Government’s planning commission however he
found the job boring and soon left and joined as Head of department of
economics in Chittagong University.
4. Muhammad Yunus
History
In 1976, during visits to the poorest households in Jobra ,a
village near Chittagong University, Yunus discovered that
very small loans could make a huge difference to a poor
person. The village women who made bamboo furniture
had to take out usurious (Immoral,unethical) loans for
buying bamboo, to pay their profits to the moneylenders.
His first loan, consisting of US $27 from his own pocket, was
made to 42 women in the village, who made a net profit
of US $0.02 each on the loan.
5. Muhammad Yunus
Impact
From his experience in Jobra, Yunus realized that the creation of an
institution was needed to lend those who had nothing. Tradition banks did
not want to run the risk of making tiny loans at reasonable interest rates
due to high repayment risks. Yunus believed that a chance should be given
to the poor.
Thus he set up Grameen Bank ( Village Bank ), which would make loans to
poor Bangladeshis. As of July 2007, The bank has issued US $6.3 billion
worth of loans to 7.4 million borrowers.
As a result of his efforts , he was recognized with the Nobel peace prize in
2006 ,along with Grameen bank being the first ever Bangladeshi to receive
the prestigious prize.
