Muhammad Yunus (Bengali: মূহাম্মদ ইউনূস; born June 28, 1940) is a Bangladeshi economist and leader. He helped create the idea of giving small loans to poor people, called microcredit and microfinance. For this work, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. He started Grameen Bank and was the first Bangladeshi to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. After the July Uprising, he became the 5th chief adviser of Bangladesh, leading the temporary government from 2024 to 2026.
Yunus was born in Hathazari, Chittagong. He completed high school and secondary school at Chittagong Collegiate School and Chittagong College. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Dhaka and later taught at Chittagong College. He received his PhD in economics from Vanderbilt University in the United States.
After the 1974 famine, Yunus began working to help poor people in Bangladesh. In the late 1970s, he started testing microfinance ideas. In 1983, Grameen Bank was created. The success of Grameen’s model inspired similar programs in about 100 countries, including the United States. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for founding Grameen Bank and developing microcredit and microfinance. He has also received other honors, such as the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010.
In 2012, Yunus became Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland, a role he held until 2018. He previously taught economics at Chittagong University in Bangladesh. He wrote several books about his work in finance. He is a founding member of Grameen America and Grameen Foundation, which support microcredit programs. He also served on the board of the United Nations Foundation, a charity that helps UN causes, from 1998 to 2021.
After the resignation of Sheikh Hasina, President Mohammed Shahabuddin asked Yunus to form a temporary government, as requested by Students Against Discrimination. His government created a Constitutional Reform Commission to update Bangladesh’s laws and planned the 2026 general election and a constitutional referendum on the July Charter.
Yunus was listed in The 500 Most Influential Muslims in 2024. In 2025, he was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World.
Early life and education
Muhammad Yunus was the third child of nine. He was born on June 28, 1940, to a Bengali Muslim family of Saudagars in the village of Bathua, near Kaptai Road in Hathazari, Chittagong District of Bengal Presidency, which is now part of Bangladesh. His father was Haji Muhammad Dula Mia Saudagar, a Sufi jeweler, and his mother was Sufia Khatun. Yunus spent his early childhood in the village. In 1944, his family moved to the city of Chittagong, and he began attending Lamabazar Primary School. By 1949, his mother suffered from a mental illness. Later, he passed the matriculation exam from Chittagong Collegiate School, ranking 16th out of 39,000 students in East Pakistan. During his school years, he was an active Boy Scout and traveled to West Pakistan and India in 1952, and to Canada in 1955 to attend Jamborees. While studying at Chittagong College, he participated in cultural activities and won awards for drama. In 1957, he enrolled in the Department of Economics at Dhaka University and completed his BA in 1960 and MA in 1961.
Career
After graduating, Yunus began working at the Bureau of Economics at Dhaka University as a research assistant for economists Nurul Islam and Rehman Sobhan. Later, he became a lecturer in economics at Chittagong College in 1961. During this time, he also started a successful packaging factory. In 1965, he received a Fulbright scholarship to study in the United States. He earned his PhD in economics from Vanderbilt University in 1969 through their Graduate Program in Economic Development. From 1969 to 1972, Yunus worked as an assistant professor of economics at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.
During the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, Yunus helped create a citizen’s committee and ran the Bangladesh Information Center with other Bangladeshis in the United States to support the liberation movement. He also published the Bangladesh Newsletter from his home in Nashville. After the war, he returned to Bangladesh and joined the government’s Planning Commission, which was led by Nurul Islam. However, he found the job uninteresting and left to become head of the Economics department at Chittagong University. After seeing the 1974 famine, he started working on poverty reduction and created a rural economic program as a research project. In 1975, he developed the Nabajug Tebhaga Khamar, which the government later used as the Packaged Input Programme. To improve the program, Yunus and his team proposed the Gram Sarkar (Village government) initiative. Introduced by President Ziaur Rahman in the late 1970s, the government created 40,392 village governments by 2003. However, in 2005, a court ruled that village governments were illegal and unconstitutional.
Yunus’s idea of microcredit, which helps poor people start businesses, inspired programs like the Info Lady Social Entrepreneurship Programme. In 1976, while visiting poor households in the village of Jobra near Chittagong University, Yunus noticed that small loans could help people improve their lives. Women who made bamboo furniture had to borrow money at very high interest rates to buy materials, but they kept little profit after repaying lenders. Traditional banks avoided giving small loans to poor people because of the risk of not being paid back. Yunus believed that if given the chance, poor people could repay loans with reasonable interest rates and keep their profits. He tested this idea by lending $27 of his own money to 42 women in the village. Each woman earned 0.50 taka (about $0.02) in profit from the loan. This experience led to the creation of microcredit as a way to help poor people.
In December 1976, Yunus got a loan from the government-owned Janata Bank to help poor people in Jobra. The program continued to grow, borrowing money from other banks. By 1982, it had 28,000 members. On October 1, 1983, the project became a full bank for poor Bangladeshis and was renamed Grameen Bank (“Village Bank”). By July 2007, Grameen Bank had given out $6.38 billion to 7.4 million borrowers. To help people repay loans, the bank uses “solidarity groups,” which are small groups of people who apply for loans together and support each other’s efforts to improve their lives.
In the late 1980s, Grameen Bank expanded its work to include fishing ponds and irrigation pumps. In 1989, these projects became separate organizations: Grameen Motsho (Grameen Fisheries Foundation) and Grameen Krishi (Grameen Agriculture Foundation). Over time, Grameen grew into a group of businesses, including Grameen Trust and Grameen Fund, which support projects like Grameen Software Limited, Grameen CyberNet Limited, and Grameen Knitwear Limited. Grameen Telecom, part of Grameen, owns a share of Grameenphone (GP), the largest private phone company in Bangladesh. From 1997 to 2007, GP’s Village Phone project helped 260,000 poor people in over 50,000 villages gain access to cell phones.
In 1974, Bangladesh faced a severe famine, and many people died from hunger. Yunus felt sad that his work teaching economic theories had no use for people struggling to survive. He wanted to find a way to help others. The success of Grameen’s microfinance model inspired similar efforts in about 100 countries, including the United States. Many microcredit programs focus on lending to women, who make up more than 94% of Grameen’s borrowers. Women are more likely than men to use their earnings to support their families.
For his work with Grameen, Yunus was named an Ashoka: Innovators for the Public Global Academy Member in 2001. The Grameen social business model, which started as a theory, is now used worldwide by universities, entrepreneurs, and companies. The Yunus Centre in Dhaka, Bangladesh, is a research organization focused on social business, poverty reduction, and sustainability. Founded in 2008 and led by Yunus, it supports efforts to end poverty, shares research, helps start social businesses, and works with universities to teach about social business.
In July 2007, Nelson Mandela, Graça Machel, and Desmond Tutu formed a group of world leaders called The Elders to address global challenges. Yunus joined The Elders and left in 2009 because of his work commitments. He is also a member of the Africa Progress Panel, a group that works to improve life in Africa. Every year, the panel publishes a report about important issues in Africa and suggests solutions. In 2009, Yunus joined the SNV Netherlands Development Organisation’s International Advisory Board to help reduce poverty. Since 2010, he has been a Commissioner for the Broadband Commission for Digital Development, a United Nations initiative that uses internet access to improve lives. In 2016, he was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth, which was led by French President François Hollande and South African President Jacob Zuma. After the Rohingya genocide in 2016–2017, Yunus urged Myanmar to stop violence against Rohingya Muslims.
Early political career
For many years, Yunus supported Hasina's father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was the former president of Bangladesh. While teaching at Middle Tennessee State University, Yunus created the Bangladesh Citizens' Committee (BCC) to respond to attacks from West Pakistan against Bangladesh. After the war for independence began, the BCC chose Yunus to be the editor of its Bangladesh News Letter. Inspired by the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, Yunus returned to his home country in 1972. His connection to Hasina's father continued even after Mujib's death.
In 1996, Muhammad Yunus worked as an advisor to the temporary government led by former Chief Justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman. His responsibilities included managing the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
In early 2006, Yunus joined other members of civil society, including Rehman Sobhan, Muhammad Habibur Rahman, Kamal Hossain, Matiur Rahman, Mahfuz Anam, and Debapriya Bhattacharya, to support a campaign for honest and clean candidates in national elections. He considered joining politics later that year. On February 11, 2007, Yunus published an open letter in the Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star, asking citizens for their ideas about starting a political party to promote trust, strong leadership, and good governance. He asked people to share how he should proceed and how they could help. On February 18, 2007, Yunus announced he planned to create a political party named Nagorik Shakti (meaning "Citizens' Power"). Some people believed the army supported his move into politics. However, on May 3, Yunus said he would stop his political plans after meeting with Fakhruddin Ahmed, the head of the temporary government.
Chief Adviser of Bangladesh (2024–2026)
During the July Uprising in Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus supported the students and criticized the current government. In August 2024, after the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, it was announced that Yunus would become the chief adviser of the interim government. While the Constitution of Bangladesh did not previously allow for an interim government since 2011, the government is considered legitimate under the doctrine of necessity. Bangladeshi courts stated that Hasina's resignation created a situation with no clear constitutional solution. The legal system now lacks rules for transferring power, and there was an urgent need to manage state affairs.
On August 8, 2024, President Mohammed Shahabuddin appointed Yunus as the chief adviser of Bangladesh. Later, Yunus and 20 cabinet advisers, 8 special positions, and 5 special assistants took an oath, forming the interim government. After the oath, Yunus visited injured people at Dhaka Medical College. On August 10, 2024, he visited the family of Abu Sayed and injured student protesters at Rangpur Medical College. Following communal violence after Hasina's resignation, Yunus threatened to resign if the violence continued and promised to take action against those responsible for the attacks.
As chief adviser, Yunus has committed to continuing aid for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and supporting the garment industry, which faced disruptions before his appointment.
On December 16, 2024, Yunus announced that general elections would be held in late 2025 or early 2026. On August 5, 2025, he asked the Bangladesh Election Commission to organize the election before Ramadan 2026, which could begin as early as February 17.
In his role as chief adviser, Yunus has worked to improve the country’s digital infrastructure and support economic growth. In March 2025, he announced plans to finalize a commercial agreement with SpaceX’s Starlink within three months. This initiative aims to provide reliable satellite internet nationwide and prevent future internet blackouts. Yunus emphasized that satellite internet would improve access to education, health services, and entrepreneurship, especially in rural areas. He also expressed interest in collaborating with Elon Musk to advance digital innovation in Bangladesh.
In April 2025, Yunus spoke at the 81st session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. He reaffirmed Bangladesh’s commitment to building a climate-resilient and inclusive digital economy. He highlighted government investments in green infrastructure, sustainable housing, and nature-based solutions to help vulnerable populations.
The administration faced criticism for failing to maintain law and order early in its term but was praised for restoring democratic rights, such as freedom of the press and freedom of speech, as well as improving foreign relations and implementing key reforms that led to high public approval. Yunus left the government residence on February 28, 2026, after completing his duties as chief adviser.
The administration created the July Charter, a political agreement supported by 30 political parties to reform the constitution, government, and elections. The agreement included forming two separate legislative houses: the Jatiya Sangsad with 400 members and a new upper house (senate) with 100 members elected through proportional representation and 5 members appointed by the president. The senate cannot introduce laws but can review and suggest changes to bills passed by the national assembly.
The administration announced plans to unify all buses in Dhaka under a single system, following government-set routes to improve public transportation and reduce chaos. It also installed semi-automatic traffic signals at key intersections in Dhaka and plans to expand this system citywide. A real-time traffic monitoring center was launched in Dhaka, using advanced technologies to track traffic, monitor vehicle speeds, analyze data, and manage incidents.
The administration granted the National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh new powers to become a stronger organization. Since 2009, under the government of Sheikh Hasina, the commission was banned from investigating law enforcement, but this restriction was removed by Yunus’s government. The new rules allow the commission to investigate, prosecute, and represent complainants, arrest suspects regardless of rank or political position, and search facilities to find secret detention centers. It can also issue warrants to inspect prisons or other places where enforced disappearances might occur. The commission can authorize law enforcers to make arrests, ensuring that investigators are not part of the organization being investigated.
Due to the Bangladesh Police’s history of human rights abuses, especially during the July Uprising, the Yunus administration pledged to make the police more accountable and just. A police reform commission recommended clear-walled interrogation rooms in all police stations to prevent torture, GPS trackers and bodycams for officers, and an independent police commission for accountability. The government announced plans to purchase 40,000 bodycams for the police to promote transparency ahead of the 2026 general election.
The government launched mandatory pre-litigation mediation, a process where a neutral third party helps resolve disputes before legal action. It also introduced e-family courts, a digital system for conducting family court cases online. The Yunus government also started a digital legal aid program to provide free legal help to underprivileged communities, aiming to make justice faster, fairer, and more accessible.
Law adviser Asif Nazrul stated, “If implemented successfully, the amended legal aid system has the potential to transform lives. By expanding mediation and bringing justice closer to people, especially those who cannot afford lengthy legal battles, we can ensure that no citizen is left without protection of the law.”
Criticisms
Yunus kept a professional relationship with Hasina. Yunus appointed Hasina and U.S. First Lady Hillary Clinton as co-chairs of a microcredit summit held 2–4 February 1997. In her statement, Hasina praised, "the outstanding work done by Professor Yunus and the Grameen Bank he founded. … The success of the Grameen Bank has created optimism about the viability of banks engaged in extending micro-credit to the poor." The inaugural ceremony of Grameen Phone, Bangladesh's largest telephone service, took place at Hasina's office on 26 March 1997. Using Grameen Phone, Hasina made the first call to Thorbjorn Jagland, the then-Norwegian prime minister. When her conversation ended, she received another call from Laily Begum, a Grameen Phone employee.
On 11 January 2007, Army General Moeen U Ahmed staged a military intervention, and Fakhruddin Ahmed took office on 11 January 2007 as Chief Advisor, saying he intended to arrange free and fair elections but also to clean up corruption. While Khaleda Zia and Hasina criticized Fakhruddin and claimed that it was not his job to clean up corruption, Yunus expressed his satisfaction. In an interview with the AFP news agency, Yunus remarked, "There is no ideology here." In reaction to Yunus' comments, Sheikh Hasina called him a "usurer who has not only failed to eradicate poverty but has also nurtured poverty." This was Hasina's first public statement against Yunus.
The Awami League government of Sheikh Hasina campaigned against Grameen and Yunus. The New York Times reported, "Her actions appear to be retaliation for Mr. Yunus's announcement in 2007 that he would seek public office, even though he never went through with his plans." According to The Times of India, one other factor contributed to her decision against Yunus: the Nobel Peace Prize.
It was rumored that Hasina thought she would win the Nobel Peace Prize for signing the 1997 Chittagong Hill Tracts peace treaty. On 9 March, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam expressed the government's attitude when he said, "Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize." He went on to challenge the wisdom of the Nobel committee.
The second Awami League government announced a review of Grameen Bank activities on 11 January 2011. In February 2011, several international leaders, such as Mary Robinson, stepped up their defense of Yunus through a number of efforts, including the founding of a formal network of supporters known as "Friends of Grameen."
On 15 February 2011, the Finance Minister of Bangladesh, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, declared that Yunus should "stay away" from Grameen Bank while it is being investigated. On 2 March 2011, Muzammel Huq, a former Bank employee, whom the government had appointed chairman in January, announced that Yunus had been fired as managing director of the Bank. However, Bank General Manager Jannat-E Quanine issued a statement that Yunus was "continuing in his office" pending review of the legal issues surrounding the controversy.
In March 2011, Yunus petitioned the Bangladesh High Court, challenging the legality of the decision by the Bangladeshi Central Bank to remove him as managing director of Grameen Bank. The same day, nine elected directors of Grameen Bank filed a second petition. U.S. Senator John Kerry expressed his support for Yunus in a statement on 5 March 2011 and declared that he was "deeply concerned" by this affair. The same day in Bangladesh, thousands of people protested and formed human chains to support Yunus. The High Court hearing on the petitions was planned for 6 March 2011 but postponed. On 8 March 2011, the Court confirmed Yunus's dismissal.
On 2 August 2012, Sheikh Hasina approved a draft of "Grameen Bank Ordinance 2012" to increase government control over the bank. Hasina also ordered a fresh investigation into Yunus's activities and financial transactions in his later years as managing director of Grameen. The prime minister also alleged that Yunus had received his earnings without the necessary permission from the government, including his Nobel Peace Prize earnings and book royalties.
On 4 October 2013, Bangladesh's cabinet approved the draft of a new law that would give the country's central bank greater control over Grameen Bank, raising the stakes in the long-running dispute. The Grameen Bank Act 2013 was approved at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and was passed by parliament on 7 November 2013. It replaced the Grameen Bank Ordinance, the law that underpinned the creation of Grameen Bank as a specialised microcredit institution in 1983. The New York Times reported in August 2013:
"Since then, the government has started an investigation into the bank and is now planning to take over Grameen—a majority of whose shares are owned by its borrowers—and break it up into 19 regional lenders."
Vikas Bajaj wrote on 7 November 2013:
"The government of Bangladesh has played its trump card in its long-running campaign against Grameen Bank and its founder Muhammad Yunus. Last week, legislators passed a law that effectively nationalizes the bank, which pioneered the idea of making small loans to poor women, by wresting control of it from the 8.4 million rural women that own a majority of its shares."
Yunus faced 174 lawsuits in Bangladesh, 172 of which were civil cases. Allegations included labour law violations, corruption, and money laundering, which Yunus alleged were politically motivated.
Hasina launched a series of trials against Yunus. The former put the latter on trial in 2010 and ultimately removed him from Grameen Bank, citing his age. The government launched the first trial against Yunus in December 2010, alleging that in 1996 he had transferred approximately $100 million to a sister company of Grameen Bank. Yunus denied the allegations and was found innocent by the Norwegian government. In 2013, he was tried a second time, because he had supposedly received earnings without the necessary government permission, including his Nobel Peace Prize earnings and royalties from his book sales. The series of trials against Yunus puzzled figures worldwide, from the 8.3 million underprivileged women served by Grameen Bank to U.S. President Barack Obama.
On 27 January 2011, Yunus appeared in court in a food-adulteration case filed by the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) Food Safety Court, accusing him of producing an "adulterated" yogurt whose fat content was below the legal minimum. This yogurt is produced by Grameen Danone, a
Personal life
Yunus identifies as a Muslim. In 1967, while Yunus was a student at Vanderbilt University, he met Vera Forostenko, a student of Russian literature at the same university. Vera was the daughter of Russian immigrants who moved to Trenton, New Jersey, United States. Yunus and Vera married in 1970. Their marriage ended shortly after the birth of their daughter, Monica Yunus, in 1977 in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Vera returned to New Jersey, stating that Bangladesh was not a suitable place to raise a child. Monica Yunus later became a soprano singer based in New York City. In 1980, Yunus married Afrozi Yunus, who was then a researcher in physics at Manchester University. Afrozi later became a professor of physics at Jahangirnagar University. Their daughter, Dina Afroz Yunus, was born in 1986.
Yunus’s brother, Muhammad Ibrahim, was a former professor of physics at the University of Dhaka. He also founded The Center for Mass Education in Science (CMES), an organization that provides science education to young girls in rural villages. His other brother, Muhammad Jahangir, was a television presenter and social activist in Bangladesh. He passed away in 2019.
Awards and recognitions
Muhammad Yunus was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Grameen Bank, for their work to help reduce poverty and improve lives. Yunus is known for creating practical solutions to help millions of people, especially in Bangladesh and other countries. Giving loans to poor people without requiring financial guarantees seemed impossible at first. However, Yunus and Grameen Bank made this idea successful by developing micro-credit, which has become an important tool in fighting poverty.
Yunus was the first person from Bangladesh to receive a Nobel Prize. He started Grameen Bank in 1983, which helps reduce poverty in many countries, including Bangladesh. In 2006, Yunus and Grameen Bank shared the Nobel Peace Prize. After winning, Yunus said he would use part of the $1.4 million prize money (worth about $2.24 million in 2025) to create a company that makes affordable, nutritious food for poor people. The rest of the money would support a university and an eye hospital in Bangladesh.
Former U.S. president Bill Clinton supported Yunus receiving the Nobel Prize. He spoke about this in a magazine and in his book. Clinton said Yunus deserved the Nobel Prize long ago. However, The Economist magazine said Yunus’s work was important, but giving him the Peace Prize was not the best choice.
Yunus has received many awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize, Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Congressional Gold Medal. Other honors include the Ramon Magsaysay Award, World Food Prize, and awards from organizations like the United Nations. He has also received 72 honorary doctorate degrees from universities in 27 countries and 113 international awards. A commemorative stamp was made in Bangladesh to honor his Nobel Prize.
Yunus has been invited to speak at universities and has appeared on television shows such as The Daily Show and The Oprah Winfrey Show. He has also been featured in Fortune magazine, which named him one of the greatest entrepreneurs of the current era. In 2008, the city of Houston, Texas, declared January 14 as "Muhammad Yunus Day."
Yunus has also been recognized by Foreign Policy magazine and New Statesman magazine as one of the most influential people in the world. He has given many lectures and worked with organizations like the United Nations and the Schwab Foundation.
In recent years, Yunus has advised on the Paris 2024 Olympics, promoting ideas that support social businesses and sustainable projects. His work has helped include social businesses in public projects and improve housing for athletes.