Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank Essay Example

for-profit venture but with societal aims.

Bangladesh … . where the thaumaturgy happened:

Bangladesh covers 144. 000 square kilometres. Most of this tropical and really level state lies in the deltas of big rivers arising in the Himalayas. Every twelvemonth over a 3rd of the land is flooded during the monsoon season. Other natural calamities that on a regular basis plague Bangladesh and impede the economic development of the state are drouths and cyclones. About 141 million people live in Bangladesh. Half the population is less than 21. 5 old ages old. The population grows by about 3 million each 63 twelvemonth. The mean life anticipation is a spot less than 62 old ages. 53 per centum of the males and 32 per centum of the females 15 old ages or older can read and compose. Bangladesh is one of the poorest states in the universe. A 3rd of the people live in poorness. Unemployment – including under-employment – steps 40 per centum. Two tierces of the people who have occupations work in the agribusiness industry. In 2000 Bangladesh received 1. 5 billion dollars in international economic assistance. Economic growing is promoting. at a low degree of 5 per centum per twelvemonth.

Mohamed Yunus from Jobra to Nobel value … . flash points: Professor Muhammad Yunus was born on June 28. 1940. He is the laminitis and pull offing manager of Grameen Bank. which pioneered microcredit. This is a method of banking where little loans are given to the hapless. largely to adult females. without collateral. for income-generating activities. to assist them acquire out of poorness. The 3rd of nine kids. Prof Yunus was born in the small

town of Bathua. Chittagong. His male parent was Haji Muhammad Dula Mia Shawdagar. a jewelry maker. and his female parent was Sofia Khatun. In 1944. his household moved to the metropolis of Chittagong. and he studied at Lamabazar Primary School. Later. he passed the matriculation scrutiny from Chittagong Collegiate School. During his school old ages. he was an active Boy Scout. and travelled to West Pakistan and India in 1952. to Europe. the USA. and Canada in 1955 and to the Philippines and Japan in 1959. to go to Jamborees. In 1957. he enrolled in the Department of Economics at Dhaka University and completed his BA in 1960 and MA in 1961.

Following his graduation. Prof Yunus joined the Bureau of Economics. Dhaka University. Later he was appointed as a lector in economic sciences in Chittagong College in 1961. In 1965. he was offered a Fulbright scholarship to analyze in the United States. He obtained his Ph.d. in economic sciences from Vanderbilt University in the US in 1969. From 1969 to 1972. he was an helper professor of economic sciences at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. TN.

During the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971. Prof Yunus founded a Citizen’s Committee in Nashville. TN. published a newssheet named Bangladesh Newsletter. and ran the Bangladesh Information Center in Washington DC with other Bangladeshis life in the US. to raise support for the release of East Pakistan and anteroom at the US Congress to halt military assistance to Pakistan. Inspired by the birth of Bangladesh in 1971. Prof Yunus returned to that state in 1972. and joined the Economics Department of University of Chittagong after a brief enchantment

in the Planning Commission.

He became actively involved with poorness decrease after detecting the dearth of 1974. and established the Rural Economics Programme as portion of the department’s academic programme. In 1975. he organized Nabajug ( New Era ) Tebhaga Khamar ( three portion farm ) . which the authorities subsequently adopted as the Packaged Input Programme. In 1976. during visits to really hapless families in the small town of Jobra near Chittagong University. Prof Yunus discovered that really little loans could do an tremendous difference to a hapless person’s life. Jobra adult females who made bamboo furniture had to take out loans at exorbitant rates for purchasing bamboo. and had to give up their net incomes to the usurers. Shocked by this world. he lent $ 27. 00 from his ain pocket to 42 people in the small town to assist them pay back their loans to the loan sharks and be free. When he approached traditional Bankss to impart to the hapless. he found that they were non interested as the hapless were non considered creditworthy.

Prof Yunus strongly believed that. given the opportunity. the hapless would refund the borrowed money. and that it would assist them work their manner out of poorness. After many attempts. he eventually succeeded in procuring a recognition line from Janata Bank. offering himself as the surety. for his undertaking to impart to the hapless in Jobra in December 1976. On October 2. 1983. the undertaking was converted into a to the full fledged bank named Grameen Bank ( Village Bank ) . specialising in doing little loans to the hapless. As of May 2008. Grameen Bank ( GB )

has 7. 5-million borrowers. 97 % of whom are adult females. With 2515 subdivisions. GB provides services in 82 072 small towns. covering more than 97 % of the small towns in Bangladesh. It has lent over $ 7-billion to hapless people since its origin and the refund rate has been near 100 % .

All its money comes from the depositors of the bank. Prof Yunus has besides founded a figure of companies in Bangladesh to turn to diverse issues of poorness and development. These include Grameen Phone ( a Mobile telephone company ) . Grameen Shakti ( an energy company ) . Grameen Fund ( a societal venture capital company ) . Grameen Textile. Grameen Knitwear. Grameen Education. Grameen Agriculture. Grameen Fisheries and Livestock. Grameen Business Promotion. Grameen Danone Foods Ltd. and Grameen Healthcare Services. He is besides the laminitis of Grameen Trust. which extends the Grameen microcredit system all over the universe.

In October 2006. Muhammad Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. along with Grameen Bank. for their attempts to make economic and societal development. The Norse Nobel Committee stated: “Muhammad Yunus has shown himself to be a leader who has managed to interpret visions into practical action for the benefit of 1000000s of people. non merely in Bangladesh. but besides in many other states. Loans to hapless people without any fiscal security had appeared to be an impossible thought. From modest beginnings three decennaries ago. Yunus has. first and foremost through Grameen Bank. developed micro-credit into an of all time more of import instrument in the battle against poorness. ” Prof Yunus became the first Bangladeshi and 3rd Bengali to acquire a

Nobel Prize.

He has won a figure of other awards. including the Ramon Magsaysay Award. the World Food Prize and the Sydney Peace Prize. Within Bangladesh. he has received the President’s Award ( 1978 ) . Central Bank Award ( 1985 ) . and Independence Day Award ( 1987 ) . the highest national award. The Bangladesh authorities brought out a commemorating cast to honour his Nobel award. Prof Yunus was inducted as a member of the Legion d’Honneur by President Chirac of France.

In January 2008. Houston. Texas declared January 14 as Muhammad Yunus Day. He is one of the establishing members of the Global Elders. chaired by Nelson Mandela. He was the beginning talker at MIT on June 6. 2008. Prof Yunus has been awarded 28 honorary doctor's degrees and serves on the board of many national and international organisations. He is the writer of two New York Times best sellers – Banker to the Poor ( 1997 ) and Making a World Without Poverty. Social Business and the Future of Capitalism ( 2008 ) . Muhammad Yunus is married to Dr Afrozi Yunus. and has two girls. Monica and Deena.

The beginning of Gramen journey:
When Mohamed yunus went back to Bangladesh from US after completing his PhD and working several old ages he started to pass as much clip as possible among the people of Jobra. seeking to larn what was keeping them back.

One small town adult female named Sufiya Begum who taught him the nature of this job. Like many village adult females. Sufiya lived with her hubby and little kids in a crumbling clay hut with a leaky thatched roof. Her hubby worked

as a twenty-four hours labourer. gaining the equivalent of a few pennies for a day’s work—when any work at all was to be had. To supply nutrient for her household. Sufiya worked all twenty-four hours in the boggy pace of her place devising bamboo stools—beautiful and utile objects that she crafted with noticeable accomplishment.

Yet someway her difficult work was unable to raise: her household out of poorness. Like many others in the small town. Sufiya relied on the local usurer for the hard currency she needed to purchase the bamboo for her stools. But the usurer would give her the money merely if she agreed to sell him all she produced at a monetary value he would make up one's mind. Between this unjust agreement and the high involvement rate on her loan. she was left with merely two pennies a twenty-four hours as her income.

To response to that Mohamed yunus decided to do a list of the victims of this money loaning concern in the small town of Jobra. The list had the names of 42 victims who had borrowed a entire sum less than $ 27 ( U. S. ) . Immediately he offered the equivalent of those 27 U. S. dollars from His ain pocket to acquire these victims out of the clasps of those usurers. The exhilaration that was created among the people by this little action got him farther involved in it.

So he decided to seek to carry the bank located on the university campus to impart money to the hapless. But the bank said the hapless were non credit-worthy. They had no recognition histories and no collateral to offer.

and because they were illiterate they couldn’t even fill out the necessary paperwork.

After all his attempts. over several months. failed. he tried a new tack. He offered to go himself as a surety for the loans to the hapless. In consequence. the bank would impart him the money. and he would turn around and give it to the hapless villagers. The bank agreed to this program. And when he started imparting financess to the villagers. he was stunned by the consequence. The hapless paid back their loans. on clip. every clip!

in 1977. Mr. A. M. Anisuzzaman. the pull offing manager of one of the largest national Bankss in the state. the Bangladesh Krishi ( Agriculture ) Bank. became enthusiastic about the thought. He agreed to hold a particular bank subdivision created in Jobra to prove the thought of loaning to the hapless. This was the first clip that the pupils. who had been working as “bankers” on a unpaid footing. would hold steady. formal employment. It was besides the first clip that the name Grameen ( which means “village” ) was used: they called the small undertaking the Experimental Grameen Branch of the Agriculture Bank. It enjoyed the same sort of success as our earlier. informal attempts. including about perfect refund rates.

The bankers started doing alibis such as “The people you are functioning must non be truly hapless. ” some would state. “Otherwise. how can they afford to refund the loans? ” ” your plan must be successful because you and your pupils are so profoundly involved with the clients. This isn’t banking. it’s baby sitting! . Still other alibis were offered. “Your bank is

excessively unconventional. You don’t have proper internal controls. fiscal benchmarks. or scrutinizing processs. Finally your staff will get down rip offing you. “The job is that you are a professor. non a banker. ”

The truth was that the “real bankers” wanted nil to make with doing bantam loans to the hapless. Then Yunus decided to make a separate bank for the hapless. 1 that would give loans without collateral. without necessitating a recognition history. without any legal instruments. Furthermore. he kept on appealing to the authorities to let us to change over the undertaking into a particular bank under a separate jurisprudence. Finally. he succeeded. In 1983. the bank for the hapless was born within the model of a new jurisprudence created particularly for the intent. They named it Grameen Bank.

The singularity of Gramen bank:

Grameen Bank has challenged the fiscal construct. It dared to give the poorest people bank recognition. They included hapless adult females who had ne'er in their lives even touched any money. Grameen Bank expanded and reached more and more people. Today. it gives loans to over seven million hapless people. 97 per centum of whom are adult females. in 78. 000 small towns in Bangladesh. Since it opened. the bank has given out loans numbering the equivalent of $ 6 billion ( U. S. ) . The refund rate is presently 98. 6 per centum. Grameen Bank routinely makes a net income. merely as any well-managed bank should make. Financially. it is autonomous and has non taken giver money since 1995. Deposits and other resources of Grameen Bank today sum to 156 per centum of all outstanding loans. The bank has

been profitable every twelvemonth of its being except 1983. 1991. and 1992. And most important of all. harmonizing to Grameen Bank’s internal study. 64 per centum of our borrowers who have been with the bank for five old ages or more have crossed the poorness line.

Rethinking the conventional Economic theoretical account:

Yunus Model involves rethinking many other premises in mainstream economic sciences. One of them the fact that economic theory studies a radically oversimplified image of human nature. presuming that all people are motivated strictly by the desire to maximise net income. It merely takes a few seconds of idea about the people we all know in the existent universe to recognize that this is merely untrue. A 2nd is the premise that the solution to poverty prevarications in making employment for all—that the lone manner to assist the hapless is by giving them occupations. This premise shapes the sorts of development policies that economic experts recommend and that authoritiess and assistance bureaus pursue.

Donor money is poured into monolithic undertakings. largely authorities tally. Private capital is invested in large endeavors that are supposed to jump-start local and regional economic systems. using 1000s of people and turning the hapless into flush taxpayers. It is a nice theory—except that experience shows that it doesn’t work because the necessary supportive conditions don’t exist. This is why Grameen Bank offers the hapless non press releases or grants but credit—loans they must refund. with involvement. through their ain productive work. This dynamic makes Grameen Bank sustainable. Loan refunds provide financess for future loans. to the same persons or to new bank members. in an ever-expanding rhythm of economic growing. It besides

helps the hapless demonstrate to themselves that they can alter their universe for the better—and it gives them the tools to make merely that. for themselves. Supporting the societal docket:

One of import manner to back up the societal docket in Bangladesh is through the Sixteen Decisions. This is a set of societal and personal committednesss that have evolved over clip. ab initio through thoughts that surfaced at intensive Sessionss among Grameen Bank borrowers and staff during the early 1980s. Versions of the Sixteen Decisions were created at assorted bank subdivisions and centres around the state. These were shared with other subdivisions over clip. By 1984. they were accumulated into what became known as the Sixteen Decisions. They have become an built-in portion of the Grameen plan. Every new member of the bank is expected to larn the Sixteen Decisions and to plight to follow them.

The Sixteen Decisions:

1. The four rules of Grameen Bank—Discipline. Unity. Courage. and Hard Work—we shall follow and progress in all walks of our lives. 2. We shall convey prosperity to our households. 3. We shall non populate in bedraggled houses. We shall mend our houses and work towards building new houses every bit shortly as possible. 4. We shall turn veggies all the twelvemonth unit of ammunition. We shall eat plentifulness of them and sell the excess. 5. During the plantation season. we shall works as many seedlings as possible. 6. We shall be after to maintain our households little. We shall minimise our outgos. We shall look after our wellness. 7. We shall educate our kids and guarantee that they can gain to pay for their instruction. 8. We shall

ever maintain our kids and the environment clean. 9. We shall construct and utilize pit latrines.

10. We shall boil H2O before imbibing or usage alum to sublimate it. We shall utilize hurler filters to take arsenous anhydride. 11. We shall non take any dowery at our sons’ nuptialss ; neither shall we give any dowery in our daughters’ nuptialss. We shall maintain the halfway free from the expletive of dowery. We shall non pattern kid matrimony.

12. We shall non bring down any unfairness on anyone ; neither shall we let anyone to make so. 13. For higher income we shall jointly set about bigger investings. 14. We shall ever be ready to assist each other. If anyone is in trouble. we shall all aid. 15. If we come to cognize of any breach of subject in any centre. we shall all travel at that place and assist restore subject. 16. We shall take portion in all societal activities jointly.

As these illustrations illustrate. Grameen Bank is much more than a fiscal establishment. They are making a wholly new coevals that will be good equipped to take their households manner out of the range of poorness. They want to do a interruption in the historical continuance of poorness. Grameen Bank is a tool for making so.

Why Grameen Lends Chiefly To Women

From the beginning. Grameen wanted to hold half of their borrowers be adult females. This was partially because. in the 1970s in Bangladesh. Yunus observed that less than 1 % of all borrowers were adult females. If a adult female wanted to borrow. the bank would take a firm stand that they must discourse the loan with

their hubby. Husbands by and large wanted to command the money. In Bangladesh. as in much of the universe. adult females are frequently taught that merely the hubby can and should manage the money. Husbands and spiritual leaders frequently actively oppose holding a Grameen bank in their small town.

As the old ages went by. nevertheless. experience showed that loans to adult females assist extinguish poorness faster than loans to work forces. A woman’s focal point is her household. and she uses the money she earns to profit the family and to fix her kids to take better lives. What work forces do with the money they earn frequently does non profit the household. Women besides pay more attending and do their loan payments more on a regular basis.

The Grameen Bank grants 94 per centum of its microcredit to adult females.

Different loan merchandises:

Grameen Bank. like any other concern. has had to germinate and accommodate over clip in order to function its clients and their demands most efficaciously. Grameen Bank offers four different loan merchandises at four different involvement rates. All are simple involvement. unlike the compound involvement charged by conventional Bankss. The sum collected from the borrower in involvement can ne'er transcend the chief sum. Even if a borrower takes twenty old ages to refund her loan. she won’t pay a sum of more than twice the amount she borrowed.

The basic income-generating loan—the authoritative merchandise with which they started the plan back in 1976—is offered at a rate of 20 per centum. GB charge 8 per centum for lodging loans. Under a plan that launched in the twelvemonth 2000. GB offer pupil loans at a rate

of zero per centum during the survey period. 5 per centum after completing the grade.

And in 2004 GB introduced a plan that offers recognition to the really poorest—beggars None of Grameen Bank’s ordinary regulations apply to the mendicants. The loans—typically in an sum about $ 15—are interest-free. and the borrowers can pay whatever sum they wish. whenever they wish. The fighting members use the loan to transport little ware such as bites. playthings. or household points. when they travel from house to house imploring. They shortly figure out which houses are best for selling to. which for beggary.

Classifying microcredit plans:

Grameen borrowers are freelance enterprisers – after ten old ages a 3rd of them have for good escaped poorness and another 3rd have worked their manner up to the poorness threshold.

Charity makes people inactive:

Yunus non merely criticizes that aid money frequently gets absorbed in the incorrect channels ; he is against the rule of charity as a lasting agency of support. “One shouldn’t merely give people money. That is normally the incorrect manner to assist. Free money makes the recipient passive and reinforces his belief that he should merely sit at that place with his manus out. To give a mendicant money is merely another manner of stating him to vanish. This type of aid ensures merely that one must later assist even more. If we truly want to work out the job of poorness. we must acquire involved with the people it strikes. ” Grameen is non a charity. The loans may be rescheduled. but are ne'er cancelled even when Bangladesh suffers catastrophe by the frequent storms. “Even if it’s merely half a cent per

hebdomad. our members must do their loan payments. This manner they keep their pride and their self-respect. ”

Microcredit Spreads Internationally

In 2006. Yunus received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work. By this clip. Grameen type Bankss had been started in many states. including Malaysia. the Philippines. Poland. India. Vietnam. China. Latin America. and the USA. Since 1997. there have been a figure of Microcredit Summits. At the 1997 Summit. a end was set to make the 100. 000 hapless households with Microcredit. Based on the last figures available. this end was likely reached in 2007.

From Microcredit to Social concern:

Yunus continues his creativeness and so he developed the construct of Social concern which is a cause-driven concern. In a societal concern. the investors/owners can bit by bit reimburse the money invested. but can non take any dividend beyond that point. Purpose of the investing is strictly to accomplish one or more societal aims through the operation of the company. no personal addition is desired by the investors. The company must cover all costs and do net income. at the same clip accomplish the societal aim. such as. health care for the hapless. lodging for the hapless. fiscal services for the hapless. nutrition for malnourished kids. supplying safe imbibing H2O. presenting renewable energy. etc. in a concern manner. The impact of the concern on people or environment. instead the sum of net income made in a given period measures the success of societal concern. Sustainability of the company indicates that it is running as a concern. The aim of the company is to accomplish societal goal/s

Seven Principles of Social Business:

* Business aim will be to get the

better of poorness. or one or more jobs ( such as instruction. wellness. engineering entree. and environment ) which threaten people and society ; non gain maximization

* Financial and economic sustainability

* Investors get back their investing sum merely. No dividend is given beyond investing money

* When investing sum is paid back. company net income stays with the company for enlargement and betterment

* Environmentally witting

* Workforce gets market pay with better working conditions

* …do it with joy

After about 20 old ages of this experimentation. Yunus operates 25 organisations. frequently described jointly as “the Grameen household of companies. ” ( See the tabular array below for a complete list. )

The Concept of Social Business Vs Modern Economic Theories:

Mohammad Yunus in his Nobel address came up with a solution to make a poverty-free universe called “social business” . He defined the societal concern as “Profit would be ploughed back into the company to spread out its outreach and better the quality of its merchandise or service. A societal concern will be a non-loss. non-dividend Company” ( Yunus. 2006 ) .

The thought of societal concern sounds really good but seems to be really unrealistic at our present institutional model. First. in this capitalist universe. we can non anticipate concern without net income maximization aim. This aim is the key to competition or dynamicity in the market. If it is a low net income or no-loss concern. so what will pull the investors?

Second. the determination of re-investment depends on whether it will be good for the investors or non. On the other manus. a company has its optimal size depending on its concern country. company civilization. direction quality etc. An

investor must hold right to take his dividend. An enterpriser or investor must non maintain all his money is one basket. Yunus besides blamed our economic and societal system and conceptual frame-work and asked for a alteration. Unfortunately. it is impossible to alter our bing mentality. Social concern is the Solution:

Yunus says: We started out by presuming a universe with two sorts of people. one sort wants to do money. the other sort wants to make good. But in the existent universe there are non two types of people. but merely one type of people with two types of involvements. in changing proportions. Important thing is that we must acknowledge these two types of involvements in our concern universe. because it is of import for the world and the planet. This acknowledgment will take to constructing appropriate conceptual and institutional models. Introducing SBE into the market topographic point will be the most of import portion of this acknowledgment procedure. Let us do a beginning.

Nobel award:
The Nobel Peace Prize 2006 was awarded jointly to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank “for their attempts to make economic and societal development from below”

Political activity:

In early 2006 Yunus. along with other members of the civil society participated in a run for honest and clean campaigners in national elections. He considered come ining political relations in the ulterior portion of that twelvemonth. On 11 February 2007. Yunus wrote an unfastened missive. published in the Bangladeshi newspaper Daily Star. where he asked citizens for positions on his program to drift a political party to set up political good will. proper leading and good administration. In the missive. he called on everyone to

briefly sketch how he should travel about the undertaking and how they can lend to it. Yunus eventually announced the foundation of a new party tentatively called Citizens’ Power ( Nagorik Shakti ) on 18 February 2007.

There was guess that the ground forces supported a move by Yunus into political relations. On 3 May. nevertheless. Yunus declared that he had decided to abandon his political programs following a meeting with the caput of the interim authorities. On 18 July 2007 in Johannesburg. South Africa. Nelson Mandela. and Desmond Tutu convened a group of universe leaders to lend their wisdom. independent leading and unity together to the universe. Nelson Mandela announced the formation of this new group. The Global Elders. in a address he delivered on the juncture of his 89th birthday.

Controversies:

Since late November 2010. several allegations have been made against Yunus. These allegations started when a docudrama. titled “Caught in Micro Debt” was aired on Norse telecasting on 30 November 2010. knocking microcredit and faulting Grameen Bank on several points. They developed during a clip when larger inquiries were being raised about the benefits of microfinance and its effects on poorness relief. peculiarly in respects to several microfinance establishments ( MFIs ) in India and Mexico. The allegations against Yunus turned political in nature when the authorities of Bangladesh who reportedly has viewed Yunus as a political challenger since he looked into puting up a political party in 2007 all of a sudden turned against him and the construct of microfinance” .

The Government announced a reappraisal into the activities of Grameen Bank on 11 January 2011 ; this reappraisal is presently ongoing. In February. several

international leaders. such as Mary Robinson. stepped up their defence of Yunus through a figure of attempts. including the initiation of a formal web of protagonists known as “Friends of Grameen” . On 15 February 2011. the Finance Minister of Bangladesh. Abul Maal Abdul Muhith. declared that Muhammad Yunus should “stay away” from Grameen Bank while it is being investigated. On 3 March 2011. Muhammad Yunus filed himself a writ at the High Court disputing the legality of the determination from the Bangladeshi Central Bank to take him as Pull offing Director of Grameen Bank.

The same twenty-four hours. nine elected managers of Grameen Bank filed a 2nd writ request. The High Court hearing on these requests. ab initio planned on 6 March 2011. was postponed. On 8 March 2011. the Bangladeshi Court eventually confirmed the dismissal of Yunus as Grameen Bank Managing Director. Following Hillary Clinton. John Kerry expressed his support to Yunus in a statement released on 5 March 2011 and declared that he was “deeply concerned” by this matter. In Bangladesh. 1000s of people protested and formed human ironss on 5 March 2011 to back up Yunus.