Muhammad Yunus Portrait I got the opportunity to attend the inaugural Magnus Magnusson lecture on Monday, at Glasgow Caledonian university, which was given by Professor Muhammad Yunus.

Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and dubbed “Banker to the Poor”, is recognised as one of the world’s greatest social entrepreneurs. He was awarded a Nobel Peace prize in 2006 for his efforts to create a world free of poverty by developing the concept of micro-credit, which supports entrepreneurs who are too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. By providing small loans on suitable terms Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that with the right support even the poorest of the poor can work to bring about their own social and economic advancement.

His lecture on Monday was titled “Alleviating Poverty: Microcredit & Social Business”. I made a minimal amount of notes, but here they are all the same…

“Peel off the layers of fear…”
Grameen Bank works with 97% women.
Looked at how conventional banks did it, then did the exact opposite.
Poverty is created by the systems that we built.
Bonsai tree example – stays small because it’s planted in a pot, fills the space its given to grow in.
Charity money has only one life – investing in social business has many lives.
Poverty belongs in the museums.

The time is now.
The greatest crisis is the greatest opportunity.
Integrated crises – we can’t ignore the current food crisis just because it isn’t affecting us while the financial crisis is.