Muhammad Yunus

Chairman, Yunus Centre Established Grameen Bank, Bangladesh; began in mid 70s with personal loans of small amounts of money to destitute basket weavers. Recipient of awards: World Food Prize (1994); Sydney Peace Prize (1998); Seoul Peace Prize and Nobel Peace Prize (2006); Presidential Medal of Freedom, President Obama, at White House ceremony (2009). Has worked to spread and implement idea of social business, a concept for businesses striving to solve social problems, but also financially self-sustainable: a social business pays back only its original investment and reinvests its profits in innovations or further growth that advance its social goals.