Here is my hero:
Muhammad Yunus
was born in 28th June, 1940 in the village of Bathua, in Hathazari, Chittagong,
the business centre of what was then Eastern Bengal. He was the third of 14 children
of whom five died in infancy. His father was a successful goldsmith who always
encouraged his sons to seek higher education. But his biggest influence was his
mother, Sufia Khatun, who always helped any poor that knocked on their door.
This inspired him to commit himself to eradication of poverty. His early childhood
years were spent in the village. In 1947, his family moved to the city of Chittagong,
where his father had the jewelery business.
In 1974, Professor Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi economist from Chittagong
University, led his students on a field trip to a poor village. They interviewed a
woman who made bamboo stools, and learnt that she had to borrow the equivalent
of 15p to buy raw bamboo for each stool made. After repaying the middleman,
sometimes at rates as high as 10% a week, she was left with a penny profit margin.
Had she been able to borrow at more advantageous rates, she would have been
able to amass an economic cushion and raise herself above subsistence level.
Realizing that there must be something terribly wrong with the economics he
was teaching, Yunus took matters into his own hands, and from his own pocket
lent the equivalent of ? 17 to 42 basket-weavers. He found that it was possible
with this tiny amount not only to help them survive, but also to create the spark
of personal initiative and enterprise necessary to pull themselves out of poverty.
Against the advice of banks and government, Yunus carried on giving out 'micro-loans',
and in 1983 formed the Grameen Bank, meaning 'village bank' founded on principles
of trust and solidarity. In Bangladesh today, Grameen has 2,564 branches, with
19,800 staff serving 8.29 million borrowers in 81,367 villages. On any working day
Grameen collects an average of $1.5 million in weekly installments. Of the borrowers,
97% are women and over 97% of the loans are paid back, a recovery rate higher
than any other banking system. Grameen methods are applied in projects in
58 countries, including the US, Canada, France, The Netherlands and Norway.
http://www.grameen-info.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=793&Itemid=758