Bangladesh, Banking - Wednesday, October 14, 2009 13:17 - 0 Comments

Emerging Markets Global Financial Power: Muhammad Yunnus

Emerging Markets World Bank editions, October 2009 

According to Martin Holtmann, who heads microfinance initiatives at the International Finance Corporation arm of the World Bank, there are now about 140 million households in the world with access to microcredit, and a far bigger number with access to micro savings.

 We can argue about who really pioneered the idea of microcredit – the Pakistani social scientist Akhtar Hameed Khan is often cited as the first to build the theory and put it in practice – but there’s no question who gave the idea momentum and had the greatest influence on building the powerful industry it is today. Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi banker and economist, is the figurehead of microfinance; indeed, these days he seems to be regarded with something of the reverence of a Mandela and the recognition of a Bono, particularly since the 2006 Nobel Peace prize for him and for his bank, Grameen. Continue…

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