'Banker of the Poor' Wins Nobel Peace
Islamonline.net & News Agencies
"It will give a significant amount of energy to the whole movement," said Yunus.
DHAKA — In what many saw as a victory for the fight against poverty, the Nobel Peace prize was given this year to Bangladeshi Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank who emerged as the surprise winners of the prestigious prize for their pioneering work in lending to the poor without financial security.
"I think this is a wonderful recognition for our efforts at Grameen Bank, and for all the women who work for us and who have made Grameen Bank a success," Yunus said, expressing his "pride" at winning, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Friday, October 13.
Yunus, 66, started the Grameen Bank over 30 years ago, to provide small loans - micro-credit - for the poor.
In announcing the award, the Norwegian Nobel committee said the prize - worth 10m Swedish kronor ($1 million) - was going jointly to Yunus and Grameen Bank for "their efforts to create economic and social development from below".
Bangladesh's first Nobel laureate also said the award would give fresh impetus to his dream of "a poverty-free world."
"It will give a significant amount of energy to the whole movement, I can guarantee you that .. this is just the beginning of it."
Coming from a modest family, the economics professor began fighting poverty during a devastating famine in Bangladesh, setting up the tiny Grameen Bank in 1976 to provide access to credit to people too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans.
Brainchild
Women who took small loans from Grameen Bank gather at a house to pay back their loan installments to a bank officer. (Reuters)
Yunus's brainchild was triggered when he met a woman who made bamboo stools and learnt that after repaying the money-grabbing middleman for raw bamboo each week she was left with only a penny profit.
He compiled a list of 42 such people who suffered similarly at the hands of lenders and learnt the total sum they needed was just 27 dollars. He gave them the money and the "microcredit" bank was born.
Women in particular were targeted for microcredit after Grameen found them to be astute entrepreneurs.
His scheme turns conventional banking norms on their head by not obliging borrowers to offer collateral for a loan and extends the loans based on the desperation of the borrower's plight.
"The less you have, the higher priority you have," he has said.
The Grameen Bank now has more than 6.61 million borrowers, 97 per cent of whom are women. Its borrowers are also the bank's owners.
"With microcredit, you have a boat you can row," he has said repeatedly.
Success Story
Yunus's Grameen bank set out to prove that lending to the poor was not an impossible proposition.
"We took our first loan to buy 20 hens and ducks and if it wasn't for that we would be beggars now," says Roushanara, whose story is one of many proving how the bank helped many to start a successful life.
Roushanara, who used to be a manual laborer, was left penniless with her mother after her father died, the family having earlier lost their home to river erosion.
"My mother and I used to earn 30 taka (50 cents) a day digging earth. Our life was very difficult. We were vagabonds but now we have land, a home and we earn around at least 6,000 taka (100 dollars) a month," she told AFP.
Dilip Kumar Devnat cited his own success story.
"Without loans from Yunus's bank, I would still be a tea boy because I had no way to change my life on my own," he said.
After taking a loan to set up his own tea stall, he took out another to buy a refrigerator and stock cold drinks. Gradually, the stall became a success.
He took a third loan for a mobile phone and is now planning to take a fourth to set up a stationery shop.
Bangladesh is the world third-largest Muslim majority country with a population of some 148 million.
Muslims make up 83% of the population, Hindu 16%, other 1%, according to the CIA World Fact Book.
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