Historical Figure
Muhammad Yunus
b. 1940
Bangladeshi economist and statesman (born 1940)
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Biography
Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi economist and social business entrepreneur. He led Bangladesh’s transition to democratic governance after the July Uprising in 2024, which resulted in the ouster of its former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina. During the transition period he served as the 5th Chief Adviser of Bangladesh from 2024 to 2026. Yunus pioneered the modern concept of microcredit and microfinance, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. He is the founder of Grameen Bank and the first Bangladeshi to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Timeline
The story of Muhammad Yunus, told in moments.
Lends $27 of his own money to 42 women in the village of Jobra who make bamboo furniture. They'd been trapped by moneylenders charging 10% per week. His $27 breaks the cycle. All 42 repay him. The idea hits.
Founds Grameen Bank. Microcredit. Tiny loans to the poorest people, mostly women, with no collateral. Traditional bankers say it can't work. Repayment rates exceed 97%. By 2006, the bank has lent over $6 billion to 7 million borrowers.
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize alongside Grameen Bank. The committee cites their work creating economic and social development from below. He's 66. The bamboo stool makers from Jobra are 30 years behind him. The model operates in over 100 countries.
In Their Own Words (13)
When my footprints would not fall in the Jamuna (residence of chief adviser of Interim government of Bangladesh), I would neither stay, I would neither stay in that government's chair anymore, dear.. When my footprints would not fall in the Jamuna, I will pay off all the statements and settle them, dear. I will settle the debts, wandering will be stopped of this mob. Then you might let not have to put me in drone (show). Looking into the mirror, you let not have to call me. When my footprints would not fall in the Jamuna.
An AI song about Yunus, mimicrying a song "Jokhon porbe na mor payer chinho" of Rabindranath Tagore published by earki.com, a Bangladeshi satire social media page, with a funny cartoon made with AI, which Yunus and his advisors enjoyed watching in the last cabinet, (14 February 2026), 2026
This attack is not only on Hadi, this attack is on the existence of whole Bangladesh.
16 December 2025, 2025
Making money from business is happiness, but making other people happy is super happiness.
10 April 2025, in Bangladesh Investment Summit-2025 at Hotel Intercontinental, 2025
You cannot change the world in a day...if you want to change, start from your village.
3 April 2025, in BIMSTEC conference Bangkok, 2025
Always remember, job is a wrong idea. Don't ever look for a job, always tell yourself that I'm a job creator. I'm not a job seeker, I'm a job creator. So be a job creator.
Said in UC San Diego Commencement 2016: Muhammad Yunus (11 June 2016), 2016
Artifacts (15)
Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism
In the last two decades, free markets have swept the globe. But traditional capitalism has been unable to solve problems like inequality and poverty. In Muhammad Yunus' groundbreaking sequel to Banker...
Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism
The author describes his vision for an innovative business model that would combine the power of free markets with a quest for a more humane, egalitarian world that could help alleviate world poverty,...
Banker to the Poor: The Autobiography of Muhammad Yunus, Founder of the Grameen Bank
Muhammad Yunus has launched one of the most spectacular revolutions in the world of finance and banking, bringing not only economic hope to the rural poor, but a so cial revolution in how the poor are...
Banker to the Poor: The Autobiography of Muhammad Yunus, Founder of the Grameen Bank
Muhammad Yunus set up the Grameen Bank in his home country of Bangladesh with a loan of just [pound]17, to lend tiny amounts of money to the poorest of the poor - those to whom no ordinary bank would...
Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism that Serves Humanity's Most Pressing Needs
The Nobel Peace Prize winner and bestselling author shows how entrepreneurial spirit and business smarts can be harnessed to create sustainable businesses that can solve the world's biggest problems....
A World of Three Zeroes: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Carbon Emissions
The capitalist system, in its current form, is broken. Here, a Nobel Peace Prize-winner outlines his radical economic vision for fixing it. Eight individuals now own more wealth than 50 per cent of...
A World of Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions
A winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and bestselling author of Banker to the Poor offers his vision of an emerging new economic system that can save humankind and the planet Muhammad Yunus, who created...
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