Muhammad Yunus

Biography

Muhammad Yunus was born on June 28, 1940, to a big and financially comfortable family. He spent his youth in Chittagong, the second largest city in Bangladesh, where his father had a jewellery store. He started traveling through membership in the Scouts, then became interested in economics and the arts, the two subjects he studied at university. An ambitious young man, he set up his first company at the age of 21, a packaging and printing plant.

Despite a successful entry into business, Muhammad left Bangladesh to study in the United States, and earned a doctorate in economics. He then taught economics in America before returning to his native country during the War of Independence in 1971. Deeply touched by his homeland’s widespread poverty, he founded the Grameen Bank a few years later, and in so doing provided a convincing demonstration of the effect that microcredit can have on the quality of life of disadvantaged Bangladeshis.