Exclusive interview with Muhammad Yunus for 1We-TV
‘People should be able to take matters into their own hands’
“Conventional banks are unfair; they do not grant loans to those people who need it most.” And: “In most Third World countries the government is not the right place for foreign development projects.” Muhammad Yunus, the guru of micro credit, does not mince his words. At the head office of his Grameen Bank in Dhaka, he speaks outspokenly about his fight against poverty. The fight even takes place in the United States, where the Bengali bank established an office last year. It seems the other way round; a bank from a developing country providing financial aid to a Western country. This is nothing new, however, according to Muhammad Yunus. “We have been doing this since 1987”, he says. “I was invited by Bill Clinton, who was governor of Arkansas at the time, to start the Grameen program there. Since then, it has spread across America and to various European countries, however we never took care of the implementation of the program. Therefore the Grameen Bank was hardly known, and if anything, to be the driving force behind it. We first became visible to the Western world when opening the Grameen Bank America in New York in 2008.”
Own opinion Why now? Sitting behind the desk of his simple office of the sky-high Grameen building, Yunus joins his hands. The Nobel Peace Prize Winner (2006), who has shook hands with many celebrities judging from the pictures on the wall, has his own opinion about the US financial system. “It is far from perfect. There are many millions of people, for instance, who cannot open a bank account or get a loan. This is simply because they are not creditworthy in the eyes of traditional banks. They cannot cash their paychecks unless they go to so-called ‘check cashing‘ or ‘payday loan companies’, which shot up like mushrooms. These companies overcharge them however by setting exorbitant interest rates. Obviously there is a gap in the system. We try to bridge this gap with our micro credit program."
‘I just did what I felt that needed to be done'
Yunus’ first loan ever amounted to 27 dollars which he paid for himself to a group of 42 women in the village of Jobra, near Chittagong. Since then his Grameen Bank has lent over 6.5 billion dollars to 7.5 million people in Bangladesh alone. As an economics professor at Chittagong University and completely against his wishes Yunus became bank manager in 1976. Dressed in his famous outfit -a blue and white checked shirt with a beige vest- he does not look like a bank manager at all. “It is certainly not what I aspired to be. I was a lecturer and I certainly did not intend to lend money. I just did what I felt that needed to be done.”
WomenThe Grameen Bank was his answer to -in his eyes- a failing established system. Besides the indisputable refusal of banks to lend money to the poor Yunus also strongly resisted to the discrimination of women in the financial system. “Less than one percent of the loaners appeared to be women. No matter how rich they were they were not considered for a loan. This was simply because of the fact that they were women! When I started the Grameen Bank I decided that half of the loans were to go to women.”
‘Compared to 1971 things are much better now'
Soon it became clear that micro credits were better off with women than with men. The whole family seemed to benefit more from it. Yunus: “When it comes to business women have longer term visions. Moreover, they are more dedicated than men to escape poverty. At the same time they are capable of taking good care of their children. Therefore we decided to change course and focus mainly on poor women. Nowadays 97 percent of our loans go to these women." Optimistic Over 30 years after the start of the Grameen Bank and billions of dollars further Yunus has not been able to defeat poverty in his country. Yet he is optimistic about the future. “Compared to 1971 when we became independent from Pakistan things are much better now. Poverty is decreasing steadily." According to Yunus foreign aid to developing countries is still an endless discussion. “I think it desperately needs reviewing. Traditional aid is not the way to help people move forward. In most Third World countries the government is not the right place for foreign development projects, which is a huge barrier. Therefore, a mechanism needs to be developed that allows the people who need it to be reached directly. If you really want to solve poverty you should enable people to take matters into their own hands.”
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