2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammed Yunus called for more socially-responsible businesses yesterday in Gaston Hall.
The Nobel Committee awarded Yunus the prize for founding the Grameen Bank, a microcredit bank that makes small loans to poor entrepreneurs in his native country of Bangladesh. The bank has loaned $6 billion to 7 million Bangladeshis, according to Yunus.
Yunus argued that “social businesses” like the Grameen Bank can help alleviate poverty.
Although founders of social businesses usually recoup their investment, they often do not make enough of a profit receive dividends. Yunus said that he believes that social businesses are helpful even if they do not produce profits.
“People enjoy helping other people,” he said.
“When my work began I had no idea I would get involved with lending money,” Yunus said. He said he made his first loan when he loaned 42 people $27 during a Bangladeshi famine, providing them with better rates and less stringent qualifications than other lenders.
“It was a very difficult problem indeed, moneylending. But at the same time, how easy to solve it,” Yunus said.
Yunus said that in traditional lending the wealthy are privileged over the poor, but Grameen Bank has an entirely different structure.
Borrowers with the lowest assets have the highest priority in getting loans, and borrowers are not disqualified because of previous poor credit ratings.
“We’re not interested in the past of a person, we’re interested in the future of a person,” Yunus said.
Mike Jurist (SFS `07) was impressed by Yunus’ lecture.
“It was inspiring because he was humble,” he said.
“He just showed that … a simple idea can be very powerful.”
