How much money does it take to change the world?

How much money does it take to

make real and lasting progress against global poverty would a billion dollars be enough
100 billion for one man it took just 27. 27 and a simple but compelling idea that man is
Muhammad Yunus and his idea started a global revolution that has brought hope
opportunity and pride to some of the poorest people on earth. So, who is Muhammad
Yunus and what was his idea to understand muhammad yunus you need to
know where he comes from Bangladesh. Although Bangladesh is a beautiful country
with a rich culture it is one of the poorest and most densely populated nations in the
world Muhammad yunus was born in Bangladesh in 1940 and he was affected by the
dramatic conditions there but unlike so many of his fellow bangladeshis muhammad
yunus was not born into poverty which gave him access to important opportunities as a
result he was able to go to good schools get a quality education and even go to college
eventually he won a scholarship to study economics in the united states. While
muhammad lived in the united states he witnessed something there that changed his
life he saw the historic struggles of the civil rights movement up close and he was
deeply affected muhammad was particularly inspired by the movement's powerful
commitment to social justice and it stayed with him when Muhammad went back to
Bangladesh he continued to be profoundly concerned about issues of justice especially
poverty and as an economist he wondered why. Why was there so much deprivation in
his country. Why were so many people living in so much misery he quickly realized that
unemployment was not the problem in fact most of the people living in poverty in
Bangladesh were working they worked full-time at back-breaking jobs the real problem
was wages Muhammad yunus came to a profound conclusion about poverty. What
creates poverty what created this situation that human being has to be brought into this
kind of situation where they have to beg for existence is this the fault of the person
repeatedly i come to the same conclusion there is nothing wrong with the people
poverty is not created by the poor people poverty is created by the system that we have
built the concepts that we have created that's what created poverty as professor yunus
studied the problem he began to focus more and more on the issue of credit and the
ability to get loans with wages so low in bangladesh he realized the poor could never
save up enough money to change their lives the only way to rise out of poverty was to
get access to capital with loans the poor could move to better neighborhoods go to
better schools pay for college get better jobs even start their own businesses but in
bangladesh as in most countries the poor do not have access to the kinds of loans that
can change their lives according to conventional wisdom they are simply too great a risk
they have low incomes no collateral no history of credit and belong to a group that is
generally not regarded very highly fortunately professor yunus was able to look beyond
the attitudes of his time and challenge us to see the world's poorest people in a
completely different light and it all started with 27 in 1976 in the midst of a deep
economic downturn professor eunice left the comfort of the university where he taught
and talked to poor villagers in the towns around his city although he didn't have much
money he realized it wouldn't take much money to completely transform people's lives
in an impulsive moment professor eunice gave 27 from his own pocket to a small group
of 42 craftsmen but professor eunice made it clear to these craftsmen that the money
was not a handout he believed that charity only makes the poor dependent and
vulnerable instead it was to be alone that they would have to pay back and they were
more than happy to comply these craftsmen used the money to buy the supplies they
needed to make and sell small crafts they started their own business and paid back
every single penny and that's when muhammad yunus had his revolutionary insight. He
realized that the smallest of loans could dramatically change the lives of the poor in
many cases they just needed a little bit of cash to get some resources materials for a
small startup business that could give them a fighting chance. However professor
yunus knew that there was not a single bank in the country that would risk lending to the
rural poor so he took matters into his own hands and this was the step that would start
a revolution professor yunus started his own bank the Grameen bank focused on
helping the poor and he soon realized demand for help was extraordinary the grameen
bank loaned small amounts of money microloans to a wide range of poor Bangladeshis
including farmers craftsmen and women people who could not traditionally get loans
some villagers bought dairy cows then sold the milk to their neighbors creating small
sustainable businesses others used the money to open grocery stores or buy materials
for making furniture and then in some villages people took out group loans to construct
hand-powered wells that helped supply drinkable water for the entire community in all of
these cases the benefits rippled throughout the village professor yunus reinvented
banking and got rid of as many traditional requirements as he could he specifically
designed his bank to work as well as possible with the poor whatever it took if a
requirement blocked out the poor he simply got rid of it no collateral no credit checks
not even a written contract it was revolutionary the system is based entirely on trust and
the amazing thing about it is that it works according to bank officials 97 of the loans
given out to the poor are paid back in full a payback rate that has confounded the
expectations of conventional bankers over the years the bank has given out more than
13 billion dollars in loans to over 8.4 million borrowers helping to improve communities
all across rural bangladesh and the system is clearly working since 1992 the poverty
rate in bangladesh has dropped from a staggering 56 percent to just 31 percent today
while the poverty rate is still high it is moving in the right direction the basic belief of
muhammad yunus is simple poor people have enormous untapped potential and by
lending them money we help them break the cycle of poverty and we can empower
them to become constructive and contributing members to society in a way that
benefits the entire nation and perhaps the world the poor don't have to be a burden in
fact they can be an incredible resource it is a powerful idea and one that has proved to
be extremely successful muhammad yunus created a worldwide movement there are
now numerous banks that specialize in micro loans and there are micro credit programs
in nearly 100 countries all across the world as of the recording of this video in 2014
muhammad yunus is now 72 years old and he continues to work with the poor and
develop new ideas to help them succeed he is a revolutionary thinker and a role model
for our time you