Professor Yunus, "The Banker Of The Poor"

Professor Yunus won the 2006 Peace Nobel Prize with the Grameen Bank.

He has been called a "true man of peace".

The Nobel Peace Prize committee said that Dr. Yunus has done more to help the world than virtually anyone alive today.

He promised to give his $1.4 million prize money to good causes. Some of the money might go to form a company that would make low-cost, high-nutrition food for the poor.

Grameen Foundation works to reach the world's neediest people across four continents.

According to their site "Microfinance - a powerful poverty-fighting tool: Microfinance helps people to escape poverty by giving them collateral-free loans and other financial services to support income-generating businesses. As each loan is repaid, the money is redistributed as loans to others, thereby mulitiplying its impact. For Fatima, a FONDEP client in Morocco, the loans have helped her build a business and new horizons for her children."

Picture

Grameen Bank now has more than 2,000 branches, and employs more than 20,000 people, and has loaned more than $6 billion since its humble beginning.

Contents From Sundance Festival

Documentary Spotlight
What prevents poor people from getting ahead? Banks refuse to give credit without collateral. Where commercial banks see insolvency, Nobel Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus sees opportunity. His groundbreaking Grameen Bank was built on the radical notion that if you loan poor women money within the context of peer support, not only will they repay and sustain the bank, but they'll elevate their communities in the process.

With millions of microloans to rural entrepreneurs in developing countries, Grameen is now audaciously importing its methods to the bastion of first-world capitalism: the U.S.A. First stop: Queens, New York. With an intimate camera capturing both buoyant and despairing moments, To Catch a Dollar chronicles the evolution of the tiny new branch. Will the solidarity principles translate to a diverse group of inner-city women? As the banking industry collapses, will these intrepid social-justice financiers succeed? One thing's clear: we need new models to ensure prosperity for all.
Film Contact
Nevette Previd, Nevitte Previd Inc.
Phone: (917) 841-0656

"It takes a dollar to catch a dollar "

"The only place where poverty should be is in museums".

"We have to get out of this mindset that the rich will do the business and the poor will have the charity."

"I strongly believe that we can create a poverty-free world, if we want to.... In that kind of world, [the] only place you can see poverty is in the museum. When school children will be on a tour of the poverty museum, they will be horrified to see the misery and indignity of human beings. They will blame their forefathers for tolerating this inhuman condition to continue in a massive way."

"First we need to redesign the financial system to make it an inclusive system. Every person in the world will have easy access to this system. Grameen has proved that it can be done," he said.
"Secondly we have to make sure (the banking sector) never has to come back for taxpayers' bailouts for their mistakes."

Photo

A great site with lots of photos and information on Dr. Yunus. Dr.Yunus Org

More opinions on Dr.Yunus