Muhammad Yunus (Bangladesh)

Founder, The Grameen Bank & Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Few people have successfully melded capitalism with social responsibility, but Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus is one of them. He created the Grameen Bank, a microcredit institution committed to providing small amounts of working capital to the poor for self-employment. Since its inception in 1976, Grameen Bank has provide collateral-free loans to 7.5 million people, 97% of whom are women. Muhammad’s innovative approach to the alleviation of poverty has inspired a global microcredit movement that has impacted millions of women in poverty, from rural South Africa to Chicago’s inner city.

Now a member of the board of the United Nations Foundation, has served on the Global Commission of Women’s Health, the Advisory Council for Sustainable Economic Development and the UN Expert Group on Women and Finance. Not content with only winning the Nobel Peace Prize, he has also won awards like the Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom Award, the Humanitarian Award, and the Seoul Peace Prize, among many others. He’ll be talking to us at IFC online about what he does best: building better futures.

Click here to read more about Muhammad’s IFC Online plenary “The possibilities of people power”