Muhammad Yunus

@Intellectuals & Academics, Facts and Childhood

Muhammad Yunus is the founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and the recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize

Jun 28, 1940

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Biography

Personal Details

  • Birthday: June 28, 1940
  • Nationality: Bangladeshi
  • Famous: Humanitarian, Nobel Peace Prize, Intellectuals & Academics, Economists
  • Spouses: Vera Forostenko (m. 1970–1979)
  • Siblings: Muhammad Ibrahim Yunus, Muhammad Jahangir Yunus
  • Childrens: Deena Afroz Yunus, Monica Yunus
  • Universities:
    • Vanderbilt University
    • Chittagong University
    • University of Dhaka
    • Chittagong College

Muhammad Yunus born at

Chittagong

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Birth Place

He married Vera Forostenko, a student of Russian literature, in 1970. They had one daughter and divorced soon after her birth.

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Personal Life

Currently, he is married to Afrozi Yunus, a physics professor. He has one daughter from his second marriage.

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Personal Life

Muhammad Yunus was born in Chittagong as the third of 14 children. His father, Hazi Dula Mia Shoudagar was a successful goldsmith and his mother Sufia Khatun was a kind lady who always helped the poor. Five of his siblings died in infancy.

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Childhood & Early Life

As a child he attended the village school, later shifting to Lamabazar Primary School, Chittagong. He passed his matriculation examination from Chittagong Collegiate School.

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Childhood & Early Life

He attended Chittagong College where he actively participated in cultural activities. He later joined Dhaka University from where he completed his B.A and M.A.

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Childhood & Early Life

After receiving a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the U.S, he enrolled in Vanderbilt University and obtained his PhD in economics in 1971.

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Childhood & Early Life

While pursuing his PhD in the U.S, he worked as Assistant Professor of Economics at Middle Tennessee State University, Tennessee from 1969 to 1972. Upon his return to Bangladesh, he was appointed as the Deputy Chief of the General Economics Division in the Government’s Planning Commission in July 1972. However, he found the job boring and resigned within few months in September, the same year.

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Career

He joined the Chittagong University as Associate Professor of Economics, and later became Head of the Department of Economics. In 1975, he was made Director of the Rural Economics Programme, a role he held till 1989.

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Career

While working at the Chittagong University, he also started his work on establishing the Grameen Bank. In 1976, he personally started lending tiny amounts to the poor, and in 1983 what had begun as a pilot project started operating as a full-fledged bank, the Grameen bank with Yunus as the Managing Director.

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Career

He has also authored several books including ‘Banker to the Poor’ and ‘Creating a World without Poverty.’

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Career

The idea for Grameen Bank originated in Yunus’s mind while conducting a research programme in the 1970’s for designing a banking system that would help the poor in overcoming their poverty.

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Major Works

Initially he started by personally lending small amounts of money to the poor in Jobra village 1976. Then he sought support from the Central Bangladesh Bank to extend micro-credit facilities to other places as well. The project was immensely successful.

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Major Works

In 1983, the Grameen Bank was officially incorporated by a Bangladeshi government ordinance. The bank also received help in form of a grant from the Ford Foundation.

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Major Works

Yunus’s purpose of setting up the bank was to make available small loans to the poor at reasonable rates in order to encourage self-employment opportunities that would help the poor in utilizing their skills and making economic gains. It has been estimated that 97% of the borrowers from Grameen Bank are women.

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Major Works

Over the years, the Grameen Bank has grown to encompass over two dozen enterprises, all dedicated to the betterment of society. These include: Grameen Trust, Grameen Fund, Grameen Telecom, Grameen Shakti, etc.

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Major Works