Dr. Muhammad Yunus....won Nobel Peace Prize

 Muhammad Yunus was born in 28th June, 1940 in Chittagong. His father was a successful goldsmith who always encouraged his sons to seek higher education. But 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. He is a Bangladeshi banker & economist. He is also famous for his successful application of microcredit; the extension of small loans. These loans are given to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. Yunus is also the founder of Grameen Bank. In 2006, Yunus and the bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, "for their efforts to create economic and social development from below." Yunus himself has received several other national & international honors. He is one of the founding members of Global Elders.

In 1974, Professor Muhammad Yunus, interviewed a woman in a village near Chittagong who made bamboo stools, & 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, & 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 & enterprise necessary to pull themselves out of poverty.

Against the advice of banks & government, Yunus carried on giving out 'micro-loans', & in 1983 formed the Grameen Bank, meaning 'village bank' founded on principles of trust & solidarity. In Bangladesh today, Grameen has 1,084 branches, with 12,500 staff serving 2.1 million borrowers in 37,000 villages. On any working day Grameen collects an average of $1.5 million in weekly installments. Of the borrowers, 94% are women & over 98% of the loans are paid back, a recovery rate higher than any other banking system. Now Grameen methods are applied in projects in 58 countries, including the US, Canada, France, The Netherlands & Norway.