Remarkable People

Who are we?

Since October 2006, when Professor Yunus and Grameen Bank jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize, local and international interest in Professor Yunus’ work has continuously increased. In order to address this ever-growing attention, an organization aimed primarily at promoting and disseminating Professor Yunus’ philosophy, with a special focus on social business, was created in the form of the Yunus Secretariat. In July 2008, the Yunus Secretariat was renamed the Yunus Centre. The Yunus Centre has since been the one-stop resource centre for all Grameen social business related activities both globally and in Bangladesh. It keeps the spirit of the global social business move ment very high through various events, social media, publications, and websites. The Yunus Centre also helps forge lasting, productive relationships among all social business institutions around the world. The Centre is chaired by Professor Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and its Executive Director is Ms. Lamiya Morshed.

What is Grameen social business?

Professor Yunus has long been promoting the creation of Grameen social businesses, which he believes will address the problems still left unsolved in the world and not addressed within the present capitalist system. In simple terms, a Grameen social business a non-loss, non-dividend company dedicated entirely to achieve a social goal. In social business, the investor gets his/her investment money back over time, but never receives dividend beyond that amount. The Grameen Bank is a prime example of social business, with poor people being its shareholders! The ultimate goal of the Yunus Centre is to create poverty museums, after bringing an end to poverty in each area --- in villages, cities, counties, provinces, and countries. The Centre strives to engage individuals and organizations in creating, promoting, and maintaining social business by spreading the concept through workshops, internships, projects etc.

What does the Yunus Centre do?

The Yunus Centre’s activities include, but certainly are not limited to, the following:

• Poverty-Free World Campaign

Professor Yunus has long said that poverty is an unnecessary imposed by society on people, and that creating a poverty-free world is a matter of will. Yunus Centre will coordinate the Poverty-Free World Campaign encompassing partners and networks around the world. Yunus Centre will be working to promote the UN Millennium Development Goals in Bangladesh and around the world, and the campaign for Bangladesh to be free of poverty by 2030.

• International Communication and Networking

The Centre also aims to aggrandize Professor Yunus’ existing international network of individuals and institutions that work in the field of poverty eradication. The development of social media (including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) focusing on the work of Professor Yunus will enhance the exposure of his ideas on a global scale.

• Social Business

The Yunus Centre acts as a resource centre for existing and potential social businesses – by assisting each venture in adhering to social business principles and, by extension, achieving the targeted social goal.

• Research & Publications

Disseminating Professor Yunus’ ideas on poverty eradication by contributing articles and other media to renowned publications around the world is one of the Centre’s primary activities.

• Academic Programs

The Yunus Centre assists in the development of academic programs focusing on social business within academic institutions.

• Museum/Archive/Library

The Centre is currently working towards archiving the awards, honors, prizes, degrees and other distinctions that have been received by Professor Yunus, with the aim to create a museum showcasing the milestones of his career since the early 1970’s. A digital library comprised of a unique collection of video and audio tapes of Professor Yunus’ speeches and publications is also in the works.

Banking for the Poor

Grameen Bank (GB) has reversed conventional banking practice by removing the need for collateral and created a banking system based on mutual trust, accountability, participation and creativity. GB provides credit to the poorest of the poor in rural Bangladesh, without any collateral. At GB, credit is a cost effective weapon to fight poverty and it serves as a catalyst in the over all development of socio-economic conditions of the poor who have been kept outside the banking orbit on the ground that they are poor and hence not bankable. Professor Muhammad Yunus, the founder of "Grameen Bank" and its Managing Director, reasoned that if financial resources can be made available to the poor people on terms and conditions that are appropriate and reasonable, "these millions of small people with their millions of small pursuits can add up to create the biggest development wonder." 

Grameen Bank's positive impact on its poor and formerly poor borrowers has been documented in many independent studies carried out by external agencies including the World Bank, the International Food Research Policy Institute (IFPRI) and the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).