Muhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus is a prominent Bangladeshi social entrepreneur and economist, best known for founding Grameen Bank and pioneering the concept of microfinancing, which aims to provide small loans to the impoverished to help them escape poverty. Born on June 28, 1940, in what is now Bangladesh, Yunus's early education was marked by academic excellence, leading him to earn a doctorate in economics from Vanderbilt University. His commitment to addressing poverty intensified following a severe famine in the 1970s, inspiring him to loan his own money to impoverished villagers.
In 1983, he established Grameen Bank, which has since disbursed over $36.6 million in microloans, primarily to women. Yunus's efforts garnered international recognition, culminating in the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. Despite his achievements, his political aspirations faced challenges, including legal battles and conflicts with the Bangladeshi government. Following anti-government protests in 2024, Yunus was appointed as the chief adviser of Bangladesh's interim government, marking a significant chapter in his ongoing influence on social and economic reform. His legacy of promoting social business continues to inspire initiatives worldwide, with many countries adopting the microfinancing model he developed.
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Muhammad Yunus
Economist and founder of Grameen Bank
- Born: June 28, 1940
- Place of Birth: Bathua, Bangladesh
Significance: In 2006, Muhammad Yunus became the first Bangladeshi to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding Grameen Bank along with his pioneering ideas about using microfinancing as a means for the poor to escape poverty. In August 2024, he became the chief adviser of the interim government of Bangladesh.
Background
Muhammad Yunus was born on June 28, 1940, in the small village of Bathua in the Bengal Presidency of the British Raj (now Bangladesh). He was the third of nine children born into a family of Bengali Muslims. His father was Hazi Dula Mia Shoudaga, a jeweler, and his mother was Sufia Khatun. At the age of four, Yunus moved with his family to the city of Chittagong, where he attended Lamabazar Primary School.
He then enrolled in the Chittagong Collegiate School. During his school years, he participated in Boy Scouts, which provided him with the opportunity to travel to West Pakistan and neighboring India in 1952 and Canada in 1955. A gifted student, he passed the matriculation exam with the sixteenth-highest score out of 39,000 students in then–East Pakistan. (Prior to becoming an independent country, Bangladesh was under British control from 1912 to 1947 when Britain gave up its Indian territories, creating India and East and West Pakistan.) Yunus then studied at Chittagong College, where he was active in cultural activities and drama. In 1957, Yunus began attending Dhaka University, studying economics. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1960 and a master’s degree in 1961.
After graduating in 1961, Yunus briefly joined the Bureau of Economics at Dhaka University before being hired as a lecturer in economics at Chittagong College in the same year. Four years later, Yunus received a Fulbright scholarship to study at Vanderbilt University, where he graduated in 1969 with a doctorate degree in economics. He became an assistant professor of economics at Middle Tennessee State University from 1969 to 1972.
Life’s Work
In 1971, East Pakistan revolted against West Pakistan in a bid to achieve independence. The two portions of the country, separated by 1,000 miles across India, were culturally and economically different, with West Pakistan dominating the country’s political and economic life. To contribute to the Bangladeshi cause while in the United States, Yunus created the Citizen’s Committee in Nashville, published a Bangladeshi newsletter, and helped run the Bangladeshi Information Center in Washington, DC, which lobbied the US Congress to stop sending military aid to West Pakistan.
Motivated by the formation of the newly independent Bangladesh, Yunus moved back to his home country in 1972. Following a short period with the planning commission, he joined the Department of Economics at Chittagong University. Following a famine in 1974, Yunus became interested in the plight of the poor. He learned that the many women who made bamboo furniture for a living had to borrow money from loan sharks to purchase their bamboo, losing almost all their profit to the exorbitant interest rates.
During a trip to Jobra in 1976, Yunus loaned $27 of his own money to each of forty-two villagers to help them pay off loan sharks. He became aware that very small loans to the poor can make very big differences. Returning home, he sought out a bank that would provide loans to the women in Jobra. After considerable effort and guaranteeing the loans himself, Yunus secured financing from Janata Bank in December 1976.
On October 2, 1983, the loan program was converted into a full-functioning bank called Grameen Bank. The bank specializes in financing microloans to the poor. In 2023, Grameen Bank operated 40 zonal offices, 40 zonal audit offices, 240 area offices, and 2,568 branch offices, making it present in 94 percent of the country’s villages. The bank has given out microloans of more than $36.6 million to more than ten million people (97 percent of whom are women). In 1998, he joined the board of directors of the charity organization the United Nations Foundation, a position he held until 2021.
Yunus briefly considered entering politics in 2007, hoping to deter the rampant corruption in Bangladesh. However, his efforts earned him the ire of the country’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina Wazed. Hasina put Yunus on trial in 2010 and 2011 for misuse of funds and mismanagement of Grameen. Despite wide international support, Hasina was able to remove Yunus as the bank’s manager, referring to him as an “enemy of the people.” Yunus filed a petition with the court challenging the legality of his removal; in March 2011, the court confirmed his dismissal.
Accusations against Yunus continued. He was among thousands of critics and members of the opposing party who were criminally charged by the increasingly authoritarian government of Bangladesh. The Human Rights Watch speculated that due to his international status, Yunus may have been considered a threat to the government’s power. Some were concerned that his ability to leave the country may be taken away. In 2013, the government passed the Grameen Bank Act, which gave the government greater control over the bank.
Yunus continued to argue that microfinancing works, if done properly and for the right reasons. From 2012 to 2018, Yunus worked as the chancellor of Scotland's Glasgow Caledonian University.
From June 6 to August 3, 2024, a series of anti-government, pro-democracy protests led mainly by university students—known as the Bangladesh quota reform movement—swept across the country. The movement called for reforms to the quota allocation for government jobs, but it later included the resignation of Prime Minister Hasina in its goals. The movement was successful, and Hasina resigned from office on August 5, 2024, exiling herself to India. Following her resignation, Yunus was appointed the transitional leader of Bangladesh's interim government. He was sworn into office on August 8, 2024.
Impact
In 2006, Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the Grameen Bank and other projects stemming from it. Yunus also received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010. In 2012, Fortune Magazine named him as one of the twelve greatest entrepreneurs of the current era. The Yunus Centre, a think tank focused on the alleviation of poverty and increased sustainability, is in Dhaka, Bangladesh. More than one hundred other developing countries have emulated the Grameen Bank’s model of microfinancing.
Personal Life
Yunus married Vera Forostenko in 1970. The marriage ended in divorce in 1979, following the birth of a daughter, Monica Yunus, whom Forostenko did not want to raise in Bangladesh. Yunus later married Afrozi Yunus. Their daughter, Deena Afroz, was born in 1986.
Bibliography
“Bangladesh Ramps Up Its Persecution of Muhammad Yunus.” The Economist, 13 Oct. 2022, www.economist.com/asia/2022/10/13/bangladesh-ramps-up-its-persecution-of-muhammad-yunus. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
Evensen, Jay. “Life-Threatening Corruption Endangers Nobel Peace Prize Winner Muhammed Yunus.” Desert News, 21 July 2022, www.deseret.com/opinion/2022/7/21/23272903/muhammed-yunus-nobel-peace-prize-2006-microcredit-founder-grameen-bank-persecution-bangladesh. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
Hussain, Samira, and Flora Drury. "Yunus Sworn in as Interim Bangladesh Leader." BBC, 8 Aug. 2024, www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyg7we8xvno. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
Marof, Mehedi Hasan. "How Bangladesh’s Quota Reform Protest Turned Into a Mass Uprising Against a ‘Killer Government.’" The Diplomat, 5 Aug. 2024, thediplomat.com/2024/08/how-bangladeshs-quota-reform-protest-turned-into-a-mass-uprising-against-a-killer-government/. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
“Muhammad Yunus.” Grameen Centre, grameenfoundation.org/about-us/leadership/muhammad-yunus. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
"Muhammad Yunus." The Nobel Prize, www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2006/yunus/biographical/. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
“Professor Muhammad Yunus.” African Development Bank, www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Generic-Documents/Biography%20Professor%20Muhammad%20Yunus.pdf. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.