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Mumbai: Bangladesh's 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner and banker to the poor, Professor Mohammad Younus, will be honoured in Pune, Maharashtra, on Saturday for his path-breaking initiatives that has benefited millions to escape poverty.
The "Sakaal Person of the Year Award", instituted by the Pune-based Sakaal Group of Publications, will be awarded by federal Minister of Agriculture Sharad Pawar to Younus, founder and managing director of Grameen Bank.
The Award is in recognition of a noble cause, in this case of fighting global poverty and bringing opportunities to the world's poorest people.
In 1974, during the Bangladesh famine, Yunus realised how a tiny loan could make a huge improvement in the life of a poor person.
Loan from his pocket
His first loan of $27 (Dh99) from his own pocket to women who made a living from making bamboo furniture near Chittagong helped them to purchase the bamboo and make a decent profit. He then began to give loans to the poor and eventually founded Grameen Bank, a microfinance institution.
As of September 2007, the bank has 7.31 million borrowers, 97 per cent of whom are women. With 2,500 branches, it provides services to 80,000 villages covering more than 95 per cent of the total villages in Bangladesh. Younus's microfinance idea has been emulated in other countries, including India.
Attending the programme will be several self-help and microfinance groups and members of co-operative banks.
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