Muhammad Yunus

Muhammad Yunus
Born	28 6, 1940
Birthplace	Hathazari, Bengal Province, British India
Nationality	Bangladeshi
Occupation	Economist, social entrepreneur, banker, political leader
Known for	Founder of Grameen Bank; pioneer of microcredit and microfinance; Chief Adviser of Bangladesh (2024–2026)
Education	PhD in Economics
Spouse(s)	Vera Forostenko (m. 1970; div. 1977), Afrozi Yunus
Children	2
Awards	Nobel Peace Prize (2006), Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009), Congressional Gold Medal (2010)

Muhammad Yunus (Template:Lang-bn; born 28 June 1940) is a Bangladeshi economist, social entrepreneur, and political figure who founded Grameen Bank and pioneered the modern concepts of microcredit and microfinance. Born in the port city of Chittagong during the final years of British colonial rule, Yunus rose from an academic career in economics to become one of the most recognized figures in global poverty alleviation. His conviction that even the poorest individuals are creditworthy — and that small loans can catalyze significant economic transformation — led to the creation of a banking model that has been replicated in approximately 100 countries around the world. For this work, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, becoming the first Bangladeshi to receive the honor. He subsequently received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from the United States in 2009 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010. Beyond his contributions to finance and development, Yunus entered the political sphere during a period of national upheaval, serving as the 5th Chief Adviser of Bangladesh from August 2024 to February 2026, after a mass uprising led to the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. His name was listed in The 500 Most Influential Muslims in 2024, and in 2025, Time magazine named him one of its 100 Most Influential People in the World.

Early Life

Muhammad Yunus was born on 28 June 1940 in the village of Bathua in Hathazari, a sub-district of Chittagong in what was then the Bengal Province of British India. Chittagong, a major port city on the southeastern coast of Bengal, was a center of trade and commerce, and Yunus grew up in a milieu shaped by both the cultural richness and the economic challenges of the region. The political landscape of his childhood was marked by the final years of British colonial rule, the partition of India in 1947, and the establishment of East Pakistan as part of the newly created state of Pakistan.

Yunus's early education took place in Chittagong. He passed his matriculation examination from Chittagong Collegiate School and his intermediate examination from Chittagong College, both well-established educational institutions in the city. From an early age, Yunus demonstrated academic aptitude, and his experiences growing up in a region marked by poverty and economic disparity would later inform his professional and intellectual trajectory.

His brother, Muhammad Ibrahim, also became a notable figure. The family's roots in Chittagong remained a defining aspect of Yunus's identity throughout his career, and he frequently referenced his upbringing in the region when discussing his motivations for working on poverty alleviation.

Education

Yunus pursued his undergraduate studies at the University of Dhaka, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. He subsequently completed a Master of Arts degree from the same institution. His academic performance was strong enough to earn him a position as a lecturer at Chittagong College shortly after completing his studies in Dhaka.

Seeking to deepen his expertise in economics, Yunus traveled to the United States, where he enrolled at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in economics at Vanderbilt. His doctoral training exposed him to Western economic theory and analytical methods, which he would later adapt and apply to the specific conditions of poverty in Bangladesh. Upon returning to his home country, he joined the faculty of Chittagong University as a professor of economics, a position he held for many years before his work in microfinance came to dominate his career.

Career

Early Academic Career

After completing his PhD at Vanderbilt University, Yunus returned to Bangladesh and took up a position as a professor of economics at Chittagong University. His academic work during this period focused on economic development and the structural causes of poverty in Bangladesh, one of the poorest nations in the world at the time of its independence in 1971. The catastrophic famine of 1974, which devastated Bangladesh and caused widespread suffering and death, proved to be a turning point for Yunus. The famine exposed the limitations of conventional economic theory in addressing the urgent material needs of the poorest populations, and it prompted Yunus to seek practical, direct interventions against poverty rather than confining himself to theoretical scholarship.

Microcredit and the Founding of Grameen Bank

In the late 1970s, Yunus began experimenting with the concept of microfinance — the provision of small loans to impoverished individuals who lacked access to traditional banking services. Conventional banks considered such borrowers too risky and too poor to be creditworthy. Yunus challenged this assumption by extending small amounts of credit to villagers in rural Bangladesh, particularly women, and observing that repayment rates were remarkably high. He concluded that the poor were not only capable of using credit productively but were, in many cases, more reliable borrowers than wealthier clients.

These experiments evolved into a formal institutional structure. In 1983, the Grameen Bank (literally "Village Bank" in Bengali) was officially established as an independent bank under a special government charter. The Grameen Bank's model was built on several distinctive principles: loans were made without collateral; borrowers were organized into small groups that provided mutual support and accountability; and the bank specifically targeted women, who constituted the vast majority of its clients. The rationale for focusing on women was both practical and philosophical — Yunus observed that when women controlled household income, the benefits were more likely to extend to children and the broader family.

The Grameen Bank grew rapidly. By the time Yunus received international recognition for his work, the bank had disbursed billions of dollars in small loans to millions of borrowers across Bangladesh. The model demonstrated that microfinance could be both socially beneficial and financially sustainable, a combination that attracted interest from governments, development agencies, and private investors around the world.

Global Influence and Replication

The success of the Grameen microfinance model inspired the creation of similar institutions and programs in approximately 100 developing countries, as well as in developed nations including the United States. Yunus became a founding board member of Grameen America and the Grameen Foundation, organizations dedicated to replicating and supporting microcredit initiatives globally. The Grameen Foundation, in particular, served as a vehicle for promoting the microfinance model and providing technical assistance to institutions seeking to adopt it.

Yunus's influence extended beyond microfinance into the broader domain of social entrepreneurship. He articulated the concept of "social business" — enterprises designed to address social problems through market-based mechanisms, with profits reinvested into the mission rather than distributed to shareholders. This framework attracted attention from business leaders, academics, and policymakers seeking alternatives to both traditional charity and conventional for-profit enterprise.

Yunus also engaged with a number of international organizations and initiatives. He served on the board of directors of the United Nations Foundation, a public charity established to support United Nations causes, from 1998 to 2021. He was a member of the Broadband Commission for Digital Development, which sought to promote broadband connectivity as a tool for economic and social development. In 2007, former South African President Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu announced that Yunus had been selected as a member of The Elders, an independent group of global leaders working together on peace, justice, and human rights issues. Yunus later stepped down from The Elders.

He was also a member of the Africa Progress Panel, which monitored and advocated for Africa's development.

Chancellorship of Glasgow Caledonian University

In 2012, Yunus was appointed Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland, a largely ceremonial but symbolically important role. He held the position until 2018. The appointment reflected the university's focus on social justice and its alignment with Yunus's work in poverty alleviation and social business.

Removal from Grameen Bank and Controversy

In early 2011, the government of Bangladesh, then led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, moved to remove Yunus from his position as managing director of Grameen Bank. The Bangladesh central bank cited the fact that Yunus had passed the mandatory retirement age of 60 and had continued to serve in the role without proper government authorization. Yunus and his supporters contested the action, arguing that it was politically motivated and that the government sought to exert control over Grameen Bank. The Grameen Bank board issued a statement regarding the matter.

The removal sparked significant domestic and international reaction. Thousands of Bangladeshis protested the government's decision, and international observers expressed concern that the action represented an effort to undermine an independent institution. CNN reported extensively on the controversy, which drew attention to the broader political tensions between the Yunus camp and the ruling Awami League government.

Despite the controversy, Yunus continued to lead the Yunus Centre, an organization established in July 2008 to promote and disseminate social business concepts. He served as Chairman of the Yunus Centre, with Lamiya Morshed as its Executive Director.

Brief Political Venture in 2007

In 2007, during a period of political crisis in Bangladesh, Yunus briefly explored the possibility of entering politics. He announced plans to form a political party called Nagorik Shakti (Citizens' Power), signaling his interest in offering an alternative to the established political parties that had dominated Bangladeshi politics for decades. The Centre for Policy Dialogue, a Bangladeshi think tank, provided commentary on the political situation during this period.

However, Yunus ultimately withdrew from the political venture. Al Jazeera reported on his decision to step back from active politics. He subsequently identified as politically independent.

Chief Adviser of Bangladesh (2024–2026)

In July 2024, Bangladesh experienced a mass uprising that resulted in the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The movement, driven in part by a student organization called Students Against Discrimination, called for a transition to democratic governance. Following Sheikh Hasina's resignation, President Mohammed Shahabuddin gave Yunus a mandate to form an interim government, acceding to the students' demands for his appointment.

Yunus assumed office as the 5th Chief Adviser of Bangladesh on 8 August 2024. In this capacity, he led the country's transitional government during a period of significant political uncertainty. His government appointed a Constitutional Reform Commission to draft revisions to the Constitution of Bangladesh and took steps to organize the 2026 general election. A constitutional referendum on the July Charter was planned to be held alongside the election.

Yunus served as Chief Adviser until 17 February 2026, when his successor, Tarique Rahman, took office as Prime Minister following the completion of the transitional process.

Personal Life

Muhammad Yunus has been married twice. His first marriage was to Vera Forostenko in 1970; the couple divorced in 1977. He subsequently married Afrozi Yunus. He has two children.

Yunus has published several books related to his work in finance, microfinance, and social business, articulating his vision for a world in which poverty is eliminated through innovative economic mechanisms. His writings have been translated into multiple languages and have influenced academic and policy discussions on development economics.

His brother, Muhammad Ibrahim, is also a notable figure. Throughout his career, Yunus maintained close ties to his hometown of Chittagong and the broader Bangladeshi community.

Recognition

Muhammad Yunus has received numerous national and international honors over the course of his career. The most prominent among these is the Nobel Peace Prize, which he received in 2006, jointly with Grameen Bank, for their efforts to create economic and social development from below. The Nobel Committee recognized that lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways to break out of poverty, and that microcredit represents one such approach.

In 2009, United States President Barack Obama awarded Yunus the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. The following year, in 2010, the United States Congress awarded him the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by the U.S. legislature. The receipt of both of these honors placed Yunus in an exclusive group of individuals who have received all three distinctions — the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Congressional Gold Medal.

His name was listed in The 500 Most Influential Muslims in 2024, reflecting his continued prominence in the Muslim world and in global affairs. In 2025, Time magazine named Yunus one of its 100 Most Influential People in the World, citing his role in leading Bangladesh's political transition as well as his longstanding contributions to global development.

Yunus received numerous other awards and honorary degrees from institutions around the world throughout his career, recognizing his contributions to economics, social entrepreneurship, and poverty alleviation.

Legacy

Muhammad Yunus's legacy is defined by his contribution to the theory and practice of microfinance, an approach that fundamentally altered how governments, development agencies, and financial institutions think about poverty and credit. Before Yunus's experiments in rural Bangladesh, the idea that impoverished individuals without collateral could be reliable borrowers was considered impractical by most mainstream economists and bankers. The Grameen Bank's success demonstrated that small-scale lending to the poor — particularly to women — could be both financially viable and transformative.

The replication of the Grameen model across approximately 100 countries represents one of the most significant transfers of a development concept from the global South to both other developing countries and the developed world. Grameen America, founded to bring microcredit to low-income communities in the United States, is among the most visible examples of this transfer.

Yunus's concept of social business — enterprises designed to solve social problems without distributing profits to investors — has also contributed to a growing body of thought on alternatives to conventional capitalism and traditional philanthropy. While the social business model has attracted both supporters and skeptics, it has undeniably influenced the broader social enterprise movement.

His role as Chief Adviser of Bangladesh during the 2024–2026 transition period added a new dimension to his public career, placing him at the center of one of the most consequential political events in Bangladeshi history. The success or failure of the democratic transition he oversaw will likely be debated by historians and political scientists for years to come.

Yunus remains one of the most recognized Bangladeshi figures on the global stage, and his work has fundamentally shaped international discourse on poverty, finance, and social entrepreneurship.