Capitalist Lawyer
16th October 2006, 19:20
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Mullen: Peace Prize winner brings hope
By Holly Mullen
Tribune Columnist
Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:
A war plods on in Iraq. North Korea toys with a nuclear weapon. Here in our backyard, Democrats and Republicans slug it out for 24 more days in a prizefight for Congress.
What a relief it is to breathe in, tune out that violence if only for a few minutes, and consider the healing power of the Nobel Peace Prize.
As to this year's winner - Muhammad Yunus - Utahns who know the Bangladeshi economist and humanitarian have waited patiently for his turn to come. Yunus and his bank's influence reach all the way to Utah, and quite significantly. The quiet American-educated Muslim is a close friend of academics and social activists.
"I've waited for years for this man to win the Nobel Prize," says Scott Leckman, a Salt Lake City surgeon, 2000 Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate and longtime advocate for the poor. His voice breaking with emotion, Leckman said Friday: "Yunus is one of the great souls of the planet. This is truly about a nice guy finishing first."
Yunus, 66, shares the Nobel with the Grameen Bank, which he founded in a desperately poor village in Bangladesh in 1976. The concept of microlending ($50 to $100 U.S. currency per loan) fuels Grameen's engine. The bank lends money to the poorest of the poor, with no collateral requirement.
In 30 years, the microlending model has caught on in poor neighborhoods in Chicago, Los Angeles, and even with a group of struggling Latino businesswomen in Utah County. BYU students have been schooled in the concept by Marriott School of Entrepreneurship Dean Ned C. Hill and Warner Woodworth, professor of social entrepreneurship.
Yunus began his odyssey after watching a woman named Sophia weave a bamboo stool. She told him she earned 2 cents a day. She recounted how the women in her village had to buy bamboo from a trader who took the stools to market at a price he fixed. Yunus loaned Sophia and 41 other women $27 of his own to build a business. And so it went.
Conventional wisdom held that the poor are lazy, stupid and, certainly, unreliable credit risks. Yunus believed that access to credit would build the poorest person's self-worth. In turn, the money would be paid back. If it sounds like rusty old socialism, hang on. His genius lies in blending concepts of various economic models. The bank loans money on an individual basis, but only if the borrower joins a group of four or more. No one can be blood-related and each must agree to help the others succeed.
The loan repayment rate is nearly perfect. According to the Grameen Web site, 6.6 billion entrepreneurs have borrowed from the program. Ninety-four percent of the bank belongs to the borrowers; 97 percent of them are women. The government owns the remaining 6 percent. Borrowers operate under rules they imposed on themselves - a constitution, if you will - meant to instill social and economic discipline. It's called "The Sixteen Decisions."
Those guiding principles might strike the average wage-earning American as quaint, almost cute. But the rules are life-affirming to the mostly female borrowers (whom Yunus observed pay their loans off more quickly than men. They also tended to spread their prosperity among their entire family, while men tended to spend it on themselves).
Among the Sixteen Decisions:
"Prosperity we shall bring to our families."
"We shall not live in dilapidated houses. We shall repair our houses and work toward constructing new houses as soon as possible." We shall not take dowry at our sons' weddings, nor shall we give any dowry at our daughters' weddings."
"We shall build and use pit latrines."
Yunus' last visit to Utah was in July 2005. He networked with BYU students and with Utah members of RESULTS, a worldwide grass-roots organization determined to end poverty and hunger.
"Yunus is changing the world, and it started with one small observation from a woman weaving a stool," Leckman said.
So there it is. We live in a world where money too often goes hand-in-hand with bloodshed, fraud and conflict. What a concept Muhammad Yunus offered: That money can also bring peace.
Mullen: Peace Prize winner brings hope
By Holly Mullen
Tribune Columnist
Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:
A war plods on in Iraq. North Korea toys with a nuclear weapon. Here in our backyard, Democrats and Republicans slug it out for 24 more days in a prizefight for Congress.
What a relief it is to breathe in, tune out that violence if only for a few minutes, and consider the healing power of the Nobel Peace Prize.
As to this year's winner - Muhammad Yunus - Utahns who know the Bangladeshi economist and humanitarian have waited patiently for his turn to come. Yunus and his bank's influence reach all the way to Utah, and quite significantly. The quiet American-educated Muslim is a close friend of academics and social activists.
"I've waited for years for this man to win the Nobel Prize," says Scott Leckman, a Salt Lake City surgeon, 2000 Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate and longtime advocate for the poor. His voice breaking with emotion, Leckman said Friday: "Yunus is one of the great souls of the planet. This is truly about a nice guy finishing first."
Yunus, 66, shares the Nobel with the Grameen Bank, which he founded in a desperately poor village in Bangladesh in 1976. The concept of microlending ($50 to $100 U.S. currency per loan) fuels Grameen's engine. The bank lends money to the poorest of the poor, with no collateral requirement.
In 30 years, the microlending model has caught on in poor neighborhoods in Chicago, Los Angeles, and even with a group of struggling Latino businesswomen in Utah County. BYU students have been schooled in the concept by Marriott School of Entrepreneurship Dean Ned C. Hill and Warner Woodworth, professor of social entrepreneurship.
Yunus began his odyssey after watching a woman named Sophia weave a bamboo stool. She told him she earned 2 cents a day. She recounted how the women in her village had to buy bamboo from a trader who took the stools to market at a price he fixed. Yunus loaned Sophia and 41 other women $27 of his own to build a business. And so it went.
Conventional wisdom held that the poor are lazy, stupid and, certainly, unreliable credit risks. Yunus believed that access to credit would build the poorest person's self-worth. In turn, the money would be paid back. If it sounds like rusty old socialism, hang on. His genius lies in blending concepts of various economic models. The bank loans money on an individual basis, but only if the borrower joins a group of four or more. No one can be blood-related and each must agree to help the others succeed.
The loan repayment rate is nearly perfect. According to the Grameen Web site, 6.6 billion entrepreneurs have borrowed from the program. Ninety-four percent of the bank belongs to the borrowers; 97 percent of them are women. The government owns the remaining 6 percent. Borrowers operate under rules they imposed on themselves - a constitution, if you will - meant to instill social and economic discipline. It's called "The Sixteen Decisions."
Those guiding principles might strike the average wage-earning American as quaint, almost cute. But the rules are life-affirming to the mostly female borrowers (whom Yunus observed pay their loans off more quickly than men. They also tended to spread their prosperity among their entire family, while men tended to spend it on themselves).
Among the Sixteen Decisions:
"Prosperity we shall bring to our families."
"We shall not live in dilapidated houses. We shall repair our houses and work toward constructing new houses as soon as possible." We shall not take dowry at our sons' weddings, nor shall we give any dowry at our daughters' weddings."
"We shall build and use pit latrines."
Yunus' last visit to Utah was in July 2005. He networked with BYU students and with Utah members of RESULTS, a worldwide grass-roots organization determined to end poverty and hunger.
"Yunus is changing the world, and it started with one small observation from a woman weaving a stool," Leckman said.
So there it is. We live in a world where money too often goes hand-in-hand with bloodshed, fraud and conflict. What a concept Muhammad Yunus offered: That money can also bring peace.