- How Dr Yunus, the “Banker of Poor” Helped China in Alleviating Poverty?
- Founder of Grameen Bank expands cooperation with China in establishing “Grameen China”
- Understanding “Grameen China” and Dr. Yunus, a World Leader in Alleviating Poverty
- “We need to create a new civilization by rediscovering ourselves as full human beings, and come out of the present one which is based on selfishness of people”: Professor Yunus
By: Muhammad Arif, Editor NSN.Asia
Beijing: Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, 83, known as the “banker of poor” has been named as chief adviser of the interim government in Bangladesh, following a meeting between President Mohammed Shahabuddin, military leaders and student leaders.
Today, Bangladesh is at a historic turning point following the weeks long anti-government protests that led to topple the prime minister Sheikh Hasina, and an interim government is expected to be formed soon.
Prof Yunus too was a victim of Ms Hasina’s iron grip.
Who is Professor Muhammad Yunus and Why he is famous?
Prof Yunus started Grameen Bank in 1983, which offers micro, long-term loans to help poor people start small businesses – a concept and business model that has since taken off around the world.
In 2006, he, along with the bank, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for showing that “even the poorest of the poor can work to bring about their own development”.
He became known internationally as the “banker to the poor”.
Professor Muhammad Yunus and establishment of Grameen China
Professor Muhammad Yunus also collaborated in establishing “Grameen China to provide services such as micro-finance, savings, financial education, and credit establishment for low-income women in China, aiming to encourage them to create or expand their own businesses, and thus breaking the vicious cycle of poverty.
“We need to create a new civilization by rediscovering ourselves as full human beings, and come out of the present one which is based on selfishness of people, said Professor Yunus while addressing at gathering held for opening a branch of Grameen China in Shenzhen for its microcredit programme in 2015.
Grameen China was founded to bring financial services following the Professor Yunus’s advice, model and system of micro-lending.
The Grameen Bank was founded on the belief that credit is a fundamental human right. By canceling the requirements for mortgages, Grameen Bank created a banking system based on mutual trust, participation and creativity, which changed the traditional practice of the banking industry and provided collateral-free financial services for low-income households.
Today, replicas of the Grameen Bank model operate in more than 41 countries including the United States, Mexico, and Turkey, benefiting 16.88 million low-income families worldwide and creating a miracle of a repayment rate of more than 99% repayment.
In 2015, the Foundation for Yunus Social Business China was founded by Professor Muhammad Yunus, in Hong Kong of PRC.
In 2015 and 2018, it conducted “China Yunus Social Business Week”, promoting Grameen Inclusive Finance model and Social Business model in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and the other cities. Now, the foundation is dedicated to facilitate universities in China to set up Yunus Social Business Centre for the further academic research development in the area of Grameen model and Social Bsuiness. It also organizes trips to visit Grameen programs and social businesses in China, USA, Bangladesh and India for the deeper international exchange.
The Foundation for Yunus Social Business China is alleviating poverty and solving social problems with the approach of Social Business model and creating a World of Three Zeros, zero poverty, zero umemployment and zero net carbon emission.
Yunus was born in 1940 in Chittagong, a port city in Bangladesh. He studied at Dhaka University. He received a Ph.D. in economics from Vanderbilt University in the United States.
He taught at Chittagong University.
“I found it difficult to teach elegant theories of economics in the university classroom, in the backdrop of a terrible famine in Bangladesh. Suddenly, I felt the emptiness of those theories in the face of crushing hunger and poverty,” Yunus said in his 2006 Nobel lecture after receiving the award.
“I wanted to do something immediate to help people around me, even if it was just one human being, to get through another day with a little more ease,” he added.
Dr Yunus began providing small loans out of pocket to the poorest residents in his community – eventually founding the Grameen Bank in 1983, which would become a world leader in alleviating poverty through smalls.
After lending a total of about $6 billion in housing, student and micro-enterprise loans, and specifically in support of Bangladeshi women, Dr.Yunus and his Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for poverty alleviation works.
At the end of 2017, the Grameen Bank had about 2,600 branches and 9 million borrowers, with a repayment rate of 99.6 percent.
The Grameen Bank doesn’t aim to earn money – but to help the poor and empower small businesses, Dr Yunus told CNN after some critics cast a skeptical eye on Yunus and the Grameen Bank, arguing that some microlenders’ high interest rates had impoverished borrowers as the lenders made big profits from small loans.
People of Bangladesh are expecting the interim government, under the leadership Professor Muhammad Yunus, to bring political stability and normalcy in the country, helps to end the demonstrations, campaign of civil disobedience, prolonged standoff and bloodshed.
Like the innovative model in poverty reduction by Dr.Yunus, his political model might lead to betterment of life of common people, help them do their own business, get rid of poverty, and support Bangladesh to grow.
