Muhammad Yunus

Founder of Grameen Bank and Nobel Laureate

Professor Muhammad Yunus is the founder and Managing Director of Grameen Bank which currently operates 2,283 branches providing credit to 6.83 million poor people residing in 73,609 villages in Bangladesh. He originated the concept of Grameen Bank, i.e. banking without collateral for the poorest of the poor, especially poor women. Professor Yunus started the Bank as a project in 1976 when he was Head of Economics at the University of Chittagong; it became a formal bank in 1983.

As well as receiving the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, Professor Yunus has received the highest honours from countries as diverse as the Philippines, Sri Lanka, the U.S.A, Venezuela, Japan, India and the Netherlands. He was also the first chair of the Policy Advisory Group of CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest) and has been appointed as an International Goodwill Ambassador for UNAIDS by the United Nations.

Besides the Bank, other Bangladesh-based Grameen companies are active in addressing issues of poverty and development across sectors including mobile communications, rural internet provision, computer software, investment banking, textiles, health, education, public relations and renewable energy.

Grameen methods are applied in projects in 58 countries, including the US, Canada, France, the Netherlands and Norway.

Born in 1940 in what was then Eastern Bengal, Professor Yunus received his Ph.D in economics from Vanderbilt University. He has since been awarded honorary degrees from universities across the world including Yale (USA), Warwick (UK), University of Natal (South Africa) and the Asian Institute of Technology (Thailand).