Muhammad Yunus, famously known as the Banker to the Poor, is this year's Nobel Peace Laureate

My greatest challenge has been to change the mindset of people. Mindsets play strange tricks on us. We see things the way our minds have instructed our eyes to see. --Muhammad Yunus
Inspiration of the Day:Muhammad Yunus, famously known as the Banker to the Poor, is this year's Nobel Peace Laureate. The Bangladeshi economist and the revolutionary bank he founded will share the prize. The Grameen Bank provides credit to "the poorest of the poor" in rural Bangladesh, without any collateral. It has 6.6 million borrowers, 97 percent of whom are women, and provides services in more than 70,000 villages in Bangladesh. Many people have argued for a long time that the Nobel needs to have a prize for development, and this selection confirms that the Nobel committee recognizes global development as fundamentally connected to the promotion of peace.
Grameen Founder Gets Nobel Peace Prize
Earlier today, microloan pioneer Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace prize. Many people have argued for a long time that Nobel needs to have a prize for development, and today's selection confirms that the Nobel committee recognizes global development as fundamentally connected to the promotion of peace.
Andy Carvin describes this as significant in this way:
"Perhaps what's most exciting about this Nobel selection is that the people of Bangladesh can rightfully claim that they as individuals have won a share of the Peace Prize. Approximately 94% of the bank is owned by its 6.6 million borrowers - the farmers, the women entrepreneurs, the beggars - while the remaining six percent is owned by the government of Bangladesh, which of course represents the people. No matter how you slice it, this years Peace Prize has been rewarded to the Bangladeshis themselves. Muhammad Yunus may be the one standing in Oslo this December - and rightfully so - but he will be standing on the shoulders of millions of Bangladeshi citizens, each of whom must be swelling with joy this day."
Here is Grameen's work in the words of the Nobel Laureate: Comments
Posted by: Alejandra Alvarez at October 13, 2006 10:21 AMIt is fascinating that a person and a program as the Grameen's banks got awarded in this times of individualism, mis-trust, impotence, poverty at large, etc. It gives a strong sense of hope, trust and conviction that we as humand kind are not doing so bad. Thank you Nipun for share this news with us. It give me back some trust in the Nobel prizes if they can giveit to somebody that work to support poor people to stand up by them selves. Alejandra
Posted by: David Green at October 13, 2006 03:48 PM
In one of the NYT articles, Prof. Yunus is quoted:
The 65-year-old economist said he would use part of his share of the $1.4 million award money to create a company to make low-cost, high-nutrition food for the poor. The rest would go toward setting up an eye hospital for the poor in Bangladesh, he said.
Best, David
Posted by: Tom at October 13, 2006 04:21 PM
Yunus quotes ...
"It's not people who aren't credit-worthy. It's banks that aren't people worthy."
"Conventional banks ask their clients to come to their office. It's a terrifying place for the poor and illiterate. ... The entire Grameen Bank system runs on the principle that people should not come to the bank, the bank should go to the people. ... If any staff member is seen in the office, it should be taken as a violation of the rules of the Grameen Bank. ... It is essential that [those setting up a new village Branch] have no office and no place to stay. The reason is to make us as different as possible from government officials."
"The Grameen loan is not simply cash. It becomes a kind of ticket to self-discovery and self-exploration."
Posted by: Deidre Newton at October 14, 2006 06:08 AM God bless him! What an inspiration. I want to know how he started. I would love to do the same thing here in the US. The banking system is backward , the people who need it the most are the ones most use it the least.