Muhammad Yunus

(Born in Bangladesh, 1940) Indian economist, creator

of microcredit and founder of the Bank of the Poor

Yunus created the concept of microcredit the day he decided to help a few
peasants who lived near Chittagong University and who, after a great famine that
devastated the country in 1974, were going through serious difficulties. He drew up
a list of 42 seriously indebted persons who, in total, owed less than $27. Each of
them received the amount he owed with no other condition than to concentrate on
his work and to return the money when he could

. The success of his action led him to create, in 1976, the Grameen Bank, with the
intention of lending money to people who did not have access to traditional bank
loans, since they did not meet the conditions usually required as collateral to
guarantee the repayment of the amount borrowed. The bank was created to grant
loans only to the most disadvantaged people, making them shareholders of the
entity. Initially, Grameen Bank's goal was for 50% of beneficiaries to be women,
but as the project progressed, women accounted for more than 90% of microcredit
recipients. Yunus noted that, although the rate of repayment of loans was virtually
the same between men and women, in comparison men tended to meet their
needs first, while women tended to benefit their families muchmore, starting with
their children, continuing through their homes and then attending to other needs.
Economist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus has been
internationally recognized for his revolutionary system of micro-credits (small loans
to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans), which has helped
millions of people escape poverty.