Muhammad Yunus

Solution / The Grameen Bank

Muhammad Yunus first set himself the goal of finding a way to provide access to credit for the poor of Bangladesh during the great famine of 1974. It was as he was making a loan of some tens of dollars to a group of women that he realized the potential of microcredit. By applying this type of loan on a large scale, it seemed to him that it would be possible to improve the lives of many other Bangladeshis.

In 1976, Muhammad Yunus founded the Grameen Bank, meaning the “bank of the villages”. Having proven itself, the institution was officially recognized as an independent bank in 1983. While offering the poorest people the opportunity to improve their situation and being owned mostly by its clients, the Grameen Bank boasts a 99% repayment rate. It is particularly concerned with the situation of women, who comprise the majority of its clientele.