Dr. Muhammad Yunus

Dr. Muhammad Yunus is a first Bangladeshi ever who was received Nobel Prize in Peace. He is a professor of economics, a banker and economist. He is the founder of Grameen Bank.

Muhammad Yunus was born on 28 June 1940 at Bathua, Hathazari, and Chittagong. He was born in a dignitary Muslim family and his family condition was good. His father name was Hazi Dula Mia Showdagor and he was a jeweler. His mother name was Sufia Khatun and she was very kind about poor. He was the third of fourteen children. His five brothers and sister died in infancy.
Muhammad Yunus was a bright student from his childhood. His family was shifted in Chittagong from Bathua on 1944. He passed matriculation with a brilliant result from Chittagong Collegiate School. He got the sixteenth position among 40,000 students. He was an active Boy Scout. Then he completed his intermediate from Chittagong College. From his college life he became active in cultural activities.

In 1960 Muhammad Yunus earned his BA degree in Department of Economics from University of Dhaka. One year later he got his MA from same department and same institute. After completed his MA he joined Chittagong College as an economics lecturer. He also started a profitable packaging factory. After four years of his MA he was offered a Fulbright scholarship to study in the United States of America. Then he got his PhD in economics from Vanderbilt University. About two years Muhammad Yunus worked in Middle Tennessee State University as an assistant professor of economics.

After the liberation war of Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus returned to Bangladesh and joined government planning commission. But he did not continue the job. He left the job and joined Chittagong University as the head of economics department.

As an economist, Muhammad Yunus became involved with poverty. He visited some poor households in the village of Jobra near Chittagong University. He realized that a little amount of loan could help a poor person. He started to give loan to poor women. At first he gave loan to 42 women in the village and it was very low profitable loan. The founder of Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development Dr. Akhter Hamid Khan and Muhammad Yunus thought about the creation of an institution. They planed help to poor people who had nothing.

Muhammad Yunus started a Microcredit bank. He started give loan without any security. He was on risk but he believed people will be able to repay. On the other hand traditional banks were not interested to give loans at reasonable interest rates to the poor people to high risk. In 1976, Muhammad Yunus got a loan from Janata Bank to lend his bank. They were continued their work and in 1982 the bank had 28000 members. The institute became more popular and helpful to poor. On 1 October 1983 the bank was renamed the Grameen Bank.

Muhammad Yunus started underutilized fishing ponds. Irrigations pumps like deep tubewells. After some years these projects grown and divided into separate organizations and renamed Grameen Motsho and Grameen Krishi. Muhammad Yunus started many multi-faceted group some was profitable and some was non-profitable ventures. The major projects were Grameen Trust and Grameen Fund. He started many types of projects; Grameen Software Limited, Grameen Cyber Net Limited, Grameen Knitwear Limited, Grameen Telecom and Polli Phone etc.

The news of great success of Grameen was spread worldwide not only the developing country also in industrialized nations. The efforts of Grameen Projects were inspire in a hundred countries. Muhammad Yunus proved himself as a leader who has managed to take an action for the millions of poor people. He worked for poor people, not only in Bangladesh, but also in many other countries. It was an impossible idea to give loans to poor people without any security.

For his great work, in 2006 Muhammad Yunus awarded Nobel Peace Prize, along with Grameen Bank. He was also honored by a lot of awarded from different organization. He was also awarded CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL AWARD.