Nobel Laureate Dr. Yunus and his Grameen Bank

Dr. Yunus accorded civic reception, south plaza, Parliament bldg 29 nov 2006

Dr. Muhammad Yunus in his study room

heart to heart talk with a borrower

group farming

poultry

goat farming

handicraft & bamboo work

weaving

woodwork & carpentry

Grameen Bank as it stands at Mirpur, Dhaka

Mrs. Hillary on a visit to project site - bhapa and chitoi pitha (rice cake)

Elated at the news of Nobel prize

At Shaheed Minar, Dhaka, with team members

At a civic reception organized by Dhaka City Corporation

Speaking at the citizen's reception held in Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Centre, Dhaka

National crest given by the Bangladesh President Prof Dr. Iajuddin Ahmed

Nobel laureate with football superstar Zinedine Zidane in Dhaka stadium on 18 Oct 2006

Key of Dhaka City given to Dr. Yunus by Mayor Sadeq Hossain Khoka

Pride of Bangladesh with the National Flag

Nobel laureate Prof Dr. Muhammad Yunus is often referred to as "the world's banker to the poor". His life's work has been to prove that the poor are credit-worthy. His revolutionary “Grameen (Village) Banking” system is estimated to have extended credit to more than seven million of the world's poor, most of them in Bangladesh, the vast majority of the beneficiaries are women. Dr Yunus came up with the idea in 1976 while a professor of economics at Chittagong University in southern Bangladesh. The first loans he issued had a value of $27 (£14.50). Their recipients were 42 women from the village of Jobra, near the university. The women had relied until then on local money-lenders who charged high interest rates. Since then Dr. Yunus has never looked back.

Grameen Bank Project came into its own as an independent bank in 1983, with 60% of its initial paid-up capital subscribed by the government and 40% by the borrowers themselves. By the end of 1984, the Grameen Bank had 153 branches serving 2,268 villages with loans to 121,051 borrowers. At present, it has 6.74 million borrowers, 80 percent of whom are women. With 2259 branches, GB provides services in 72,833 villages, covering more than 86 percent of the total villages in Bangladesh. The average loan size is $60, the largest loan is approximately $200. Loan recovery is still near 95%.