The IB Learner Profile Analysis of Muhammad Yunus

Muhammad Yunus is a world-renowned economist and entrepreneur. He is known for founding the Grameen Bank, a microfinance organization dedicated to supporting individuals in need of financial assistance. Yunus was born on July 28th 1940 in the village of Bathua in modern-day Bangladesh to a working-class family. He started primary school in 1944 when his family moved to Chittagong from the village he was born in, and began attending the Lamabazar primary school there. He then passed the matriculation examination when he was attending the Chittagong Collegiate School, and ranked 16th out of 39000 students in East Pakistan taking the exam. He graduated school in 1957 and enrolled at Dhaka University in their economics program. He completed his BA in 1960, and his MA in 1961. In 1976, Yunus founded the Grameen Bank, a microfinance organization that was a groundbreaking achievement in the world of economics, banking and finance. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in 2006, and the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. He also received the Congressional gold medal in 2010, and in 2008, was ranked #2 in Foreign Policy magazine’s list of the ‘Top 100 Global Thinkers’. By some, Muhammad Yunus is viewed as an entrepreneur who gives back to those in need, and by others, as someone who takes from the poor to finance his own personal endeavors, and cares only about his own achievements.

If you were to analyze Muhammad Yunus’s life from the perspective of the IB Learner profiles, one of the characteristics that stands, is that he appears to be a deeply principled person. By founding the Grameen Bank, he demonstrates that he is dedicated to helping others in the world of microfinance and economics when no other bank will give them the loans that they require. The Grameen Bank started as a non-profit organization, but since became a corporate bank in 2002. As of today, it is estimated that over nine million people have borrowed from the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, and of those, 95% are women. The Grameen bank has been commended for its efforts to alleviate poverty in rural areas, and those who support the bank, say that Yunus has made a huge impact in the lives of many by creating this organization to aid the financial pursuits of those in need. On the Yunus Centre website, under the topic of controversies, there is a passage written by Bill Abrams, a writer at Trickle Up Blog, where Yunus served as a member on its advisory council. He speaks about how Yunus recognized that, not only were the poor capable of handling money and repaying loans, but that women were “important engines of development” and that by providing these loans, he was helping the poor build better lives for their families. These arguments point to labeling Muhammad Yunus as a very principled man, who valued what he did, and prized honesty in his line of work.

On the other hand, throughout his whole career, the Bangladeshi government was never on the same page as Yunus. They even went so far as to fire him as the head of the Grameen Bank in 2011 because he was over the legal age for retirement. Many considered that as a political move on the part of the government to rid Yunus of influence. Throughout his career, Yunus underwent many trials under charges of embezzlement and fraud. In 2010, a Danish documentary titled ‘Caught in Micro debt’ falsely accused Yunus of diverting a 100-million-dollar donation from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation from the Grameen Bank to the Grameen Kalyan in 1996. These claims have since been disproved, but the accusations traveled through the Bangladeshi media quickly, prompting one economist to say 'Rather than first seeking clarification and response from Grameen Bank as to the validity of the TV program, some sections of the media and society pounced on it with unseemly enthusiasm, using it as an opportunity to cite wrongdoing in a widely respected organization.' As a description of the events that had taken place even after the claim was disproved. This left a feeling of distrust and wariness in some circles. Accusations were also made in 2011 about his removal as the head of the Grameen Bank, which further pushed the idea amongst government supporters that Yunus was unprincipled, and not to be trusted.

Another IB Learner profile that Yunus debatably projects, is Caring. By setting up a company that caters to the needs of those that require what the standard banks don’t provide, Yunus has created a unique empire that caters to those who cannot help themselves. Although Yunus did not invent microfinancing, he created what is widely accepted as the first organized microcredit institution. By providing the poor with this option, he shows himself to be caring, and to want to provide what others do not. He gives loans at low interest to anyone in need of financial assistance, and is widely praised for doing so. He won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for helping to alleviate poverty in rural regions, and providing people with an opportunity to care for their families and nurture a livelihood, whether that be by helping them start or expand a business, or send their children to a good school. He has said on multiple occasions that the purpose of his company is to help people, and that he provides for those wanting to take loans to start businesses, or support their families. Those who worked with Yunus at the Grameen Bank agree that his line of work is one that seeks to help those who cannot help themselves, and make the world a better place through means supporting people with microcredit and microfinance.

Where there is an argument for Yunus’s display of caring, there is also an argument against it. The Bangladeshi government described Yunus’s microfinancing business as ‘stealing money from the poor’, and accused him of overcharging interest to those he provided with loans. The chair that was appointed to the head of the Grameen Bank, Muzammel Huq, described Yunus as a “good man with a small heart… he cannot give credit to anyone but himself.” Implying that he recognized only himself for the successes of his company, and no one else. This suggests that Yunus is not as caring as he appears to be, and is instead continuing his microfinance business for his own benefit.