Italy: Yunus, anything but micro

An ordinary professor in political economy in Bangladesh who wondered where the sense in teaching economic theories lay if these theories couldn?t solve the problems faced by his people. Yunus visited and became friends with Vita in 2002 and now, together with the Grameen Bank that he founded in 1976, has won the Nobel Peace prize. A few hours after having been awarded the prize Vita spoke to the ?banker for poor people? in Dhaka who explained that “This prize is an international recognition of what we have been trying to affirm for 30 years.” Vita: What does this Nobel Prize mean to you and the Grameen Bank? Mohammed Yunus: It a very significant recognition for us and for microcredits because what we are trying to do is to promote an idea. Our mission is to irradicate poverty in the world. This prize will make it easier for us to reach political parties, their economic counsellors, governments and, of course, the international banking community. Vita: Don?t you think you are being over optimistic? Yunus: Not at all. This Nobel Prize is the confirmation that we must complete this mission that we have begun. Our work will be much easier and the prize that I and the Greemen Bank have won makes it harder to deny that the war on poverty at a global scale cannot be delayed. If I weren?t so optimistic I would never have created microcredits nor would I have founded the Grameen Bank ? Vita: Do you not worry that winning the prize for Peace and not Economics will distract the attention of the mass media away from the excellent results that microcredits have had in the past three decades? Yunus: Well, I think it is the recognition that peace is closely tied to economic development. Of course, the prize may have been for economics as well, but the commission for the Peace prize chose us first. Perhaps because the absence of poverty is very closely linked to the absence of war, and therefore to peace. Vita: What could be a suitable microcredit formula for the so called rich countries, including Italy? Yunus: Rich countries need to create an institutional structure to promote microcredits, because there are many poor people in rich nations who cannot access credit. Rich countries could then be in a position to develop programmes in less developed countries, as they would know about the process and have the means to implement them. Vita: What new initiatives are you planning to launch? Yunus: We have lots of new economic initiatives in store, to start with the so called ?social business enterprise?. Vita: What does it involve? Yunus: An enterprise created not to maximise profits but benefits for those it is directed towards, without suffering losses. Vita: Looking at historical evidence it would seem that this may turn out to be another revolutionary idea, like microcredits were 30 years ago ? Yunus: Sure, Grameen Bank counts on the ?social business enterprise? because we believe that it is possible to create a new sector through businesses that are guided by social objectives, that do not suffer losses and that bring widespread benefits to people. Vita: Are there any concrete examples of these ?social business enterprises?? Yunus: Yes. There is the Grameen Danone Foods Social Business Enterprise that we founded a few months ago in Bangladesh. It is a joint, ?fifty-fifty? venture between Grameen and Danone with the aim of providing daily, healthy nutrition to my countries poor people through the implementation of a single model enterprise. It is a small project to begin with, but I feel that this is the seedling of a new business sector that, in my opinion, can really change the foundations of the world economy. Vita: Do you have a dream? Yunus: Yes, the same dream I have had for the last 30 years: a world free of poverty. Why could Italy, for example, not be the first country to declare itself free from poverty? If this were to happen the world would use it as an example and another country would follow its lead and declare itself the second country to be free from poverty, and so forth. In this way we could create a virtuous circle: if we all work together it can be achieve. This is my dream today. Perhaps I am a visionary, but I believe it is fundamental to be one. http://www.grameen-info.org/