Muhammad Yunus- The Banker to the Poor

Before starting this post, I would urge you to watch this video:

I know it is around an hour long, but trust me it will be an hour well spent!

As you must have gathered from watching this video Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi banker, economist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient. As a professor of economics, he developed the concepts of microcredit and micro-finance. These loans are given to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. In 2006 Yunus and Grameen Bank received the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts through microcredit to create economic and social development from below". Yunus has received several other national and international honours. He was awarded the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal in 2010, and presented with it at a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on 17 April 2013.

Dr. Mandi had asked us to watch the above video of  the lecture given by Md. Yunus in Emory University detailing how he achieved his aim of "Creating a World Without Poverty" by founding Grameen Banks.The one thing that really struck me about the video was when Md. Yunus explains how they created the model for the Grameen Bank:

"Look at how traditional banks work and do the exact opposite."

Exactly how the Grameen Bank is different from a conventional bank, you can see from the following table:
































The other takeaway from this video for me was the idea of how the organizational culture actually shapes and is shaped by the goals and objectives of any organization.

The culture at Grameen Bank is to find ways to eradicate poverty. The Managing Director of the bank is not asked, “Why are Profits down?”. Instead he is asked, “How many people have you taken out of poverty today." It is precisely this culture that has allowed the Grameen Bank to achieve so much.It is the Organizational Culture that motivates employees to perform well. It is the Organization Culture that affects the way people and groups interact with each other, with clients, and with stakeholders. It is the Organisational Culture that gives the brands the organization.

That's it for now. The comments are below. Let me know what you thought of the video and the
concept of social business.

Onwards and upwards!