Mohammad Yunus And The New Revolutionaries
“In 1974, I found it difficult to teach elegant theories of economics in the university classroom, in the backdrop of a terrible famine in Bangladesh. Suddenly, I felt the emptiness of those theories in the face of crushing hunger and poverty. I wanted to do something immediate to help people around me, even if it was just one human being, to get through another day with a little more ease.”
Thus begins the story of Mohammad Yunus, the 2006 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. In his Nobel lecture (watch the video and read the transcript here), he tells his story of how he came to found Grameen Bank and pioneer micro-lending to the poor.
The prevailing assumption of bankers and capitalists at that time was that the poor were not a good credit risk. Over the last 30 years, the Grameen (meaning “village”) Bank has given out loans totalling $6 Billion (US) to 7 million poor people, and the repayment rate has been 99%. Yunus proudly asserts that Grameen Bank routinely makes a profit, is self-reliant and has not accepted donor money since 1995. And, according to an internal survey of borrowers, 58 per cent have crossed the poverty line.
These results have say something about who we are as human beings, and what is possible for humanity going forward. Mohammad Unus sees a future where poverty only exists in museums! The path to get there lies, he sees, in questioning our assumptions about who we are as human beings and using free market principles to help the poor lift themselves from poverty.
“I am in favor of strengthening the freedom of the market. At the same time, I am very unhappy about the conceptual restrictions imposed on the players in the market. This originates from the assumption that entrepreneurs are one-dimensional human beings, who are dedicated to one mission in their business lives − to maximize profit.”
“…Human beings are a wonderful creation embodied with limitless human qualities and capabilities. Our theoretical constructs should make room for the blossoming of those qualities, not assume them away.”
“…By defining “entrepreneur” in a broader way we can change the character of capitalism radically, and solve many of the unresolved social and economic problems within the scope of the free market.”
In his speech, Mohammad Yunus introduces the concept of a “social business,” as a free market solution to end poverty, and as a vehicle for young revolutionaries to change the world.
“Young people all around the world, particularly in rich countries, will find the concept of social business very appealing since it will give them a challenge to make a difference by using their creative talent. Many young people today feel frustrated because they cannot see any worthy challenge, which excites them, within the present capitalist world. Socialism gave them a dream to fight for. Young people dream about creating a perfect world of their own.”
The FLOW Movement being started right here in Austin, Texas is forming an idealogical framework to provide a global context for tomorrow’s young revolutionaries. Michael Strong, Co-Founder of FLOW, sees how these new ideas about human potential, entrepreneurship and free markets can ignite a spark in University students, giving them a viable way to literally change the world for the better.
Mohammad Yunus says that we have poverty, because we accept it as part of the human condition. Once we raise our standards and refuse to accept it, we will easily find creative solutions to eliminate it altogether. The human mind has incredible power to solve problems, but only the problems that we refuse to accept.
“We create the world in accordance with our mindset. We need to invent ways to change our perspective continually and reconfigure our mindset quickly as new knowledge emerges. We can reconfigure our world if we can reconfigure our mindset.”
Of course, this is what we are up to here at VisionForce.com. The visionary mind of the future is one that evolves continually in ways that empower the individual to stand for more, see more as possible and create more. Our free Visionary Mind Shifts course by email is an introduction to this kind of evolutionary consciousness.
Our Visionary Mind home study program takes you much deeper, having you question the biggest assumptions about human beings, which keep us limited; and having you experience your “inner calling” to stand for a better world–your call to “greatness.” You can dive more fully into your visionary mind, and accelerate your evolution with this program by purchasing your hard copy here.
And if you’re already deep in the game of world-changing and conscious evolution, or if you are committed to living as Mohammad Yunus has lived, we want you to attend this event and be one of the 30 to step forward this spring and create a future that really works for everyone. The revolution starts now!
Everything here is made possible by our Patrons!
thank you
just wanted to say well done, this is inspiring stuff!!
ive passed on your info to all my conscious friends, it gives one hope that change gonna come!!!!
keep the light shining
i live (on) a similar pivot …
let me quote “The human mind has incredible power to solve problems, but only the problems that we refuse to accept.”
and then i link this one to the recognition made by Ken Wilber that i today shared on worldcitizen forum:
“First, the depressingly bad: the very notion of ecological sustainability requires at least a worldcentric set of values-yet according to research over 70% of the world exists at egocentric or ethnocentric waves of development, rendering “one-person-one-vote” types of democracy miserably incapable when it comes to saving the human race from itself. How, then, can we possibly develop and implement the policies that we so desperately need?”
SO?
well, i can say i dreamed and put in our world the Generation Binding S’ilence, which i foresay is a Holographic Template Governance module that is gonna save our planet.
and it is all happening right now jan, 22 2007
thanks for this other happening and notice of it that seemed to trigger me (my essential being) to share this thought of co-opertion.
s’ace
I had heard and read about this gentleman and it is just another pointer to what the individual can do. I hope that with inspiration from “vision force” we can all emulate him in some way and make a difference.
Thank you.
I really love this guy’s story. What a visionary! He was conscious enough to recognize what the government and politicians cannot see. That a person’s social and economic status does not define who they really are. Although some people are born in poverty (myself included) it does not mean that they can not rise above it. For some people, all they need is for somebody to believe in them and give them a chance and they will prove their worthiness. Inherent in every human being is honor and trustworthyness. It is simply a matter of uncovering that which is already within.
There is no such thing as a war on poverty, even the metaphor is all wrong. We are not fighting a physical battle against anything. It is a mental challenge that we must face and deal with. In order to eradicate poverty you must change the mindset of people without money to think like people that have it. Mr. Yunus apparently took this idea and applied it and look at his results. Can you imagine a 99% repayment rate? That’s unbelieveable!
The key is to change the mindset. That is why I am such a huge believer in VisionForce. It challenges me change my mindset and look at the perceptions and assumptions that I have that may keep me from seeing the possibilities that are right in front of me. I am reminded of the saying “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at will change”. If you see scarcity and lack then that is what shows up in your experience. If you see abundance and prosperity, guess what shows up?
I choose to see a world of possibilities and I am now manifesting them as quickly as I can think them into existence. I believe in an infinite Universe that is at my command and simply responds to my thoughts and intentions. There is nothing that I can not create and manifest into my life.
This is fun and exciting stuff. I can’t wait until I’m sitting on the Oprah Winfrey show talking about this.
Wherever there’s a visionary, everything is possible. All is good that starts well.
If there were as many Yunusz as the world would need, then every one would be above optimum-and that’s what we certainly need.
When I look at Uganda, then Africa and every one around me (especially the youths), I get touched after reading “Muhammad Yunus and the New Visionaries”.
African, we must wake up!
If we could avoid selfishness, corruption, conflicts, … then what problems would we have? Certainly minimal.
The story is really encouraging. It is motivating to all visionaries and educative to those who are yet to have a sense of VISION (and have a positive attitude towards VISION)
This is inspiring. I hope that with inspiration from “vision force” we can all emulate him . By the ability given to each one by the Almight God we can do all things through him that stregnthens us.
Thank you.
I am greatly inspired and motivated by the story from Visionforce. I believe it has been, it is and it will be a real force to turn the world upside down in favour of the victims of injustice. May the Almighty bless and use Visionforce for the sake of the marginalized, poor and oppressed of the global family. I pray that I may be a useful instrument for Visionforce.
Shalom!
Hearing Yunus brought such an upsurge of inspiration, gratitude and hope for making possible what seemd the most impossible…wonderful!
this is like talking the a familiar lenguage!
Very inspiring stuff!!!
Not entirely true. The revolutionary is historically a bad ruler, and so is Yunus! Fairly sizeable numbers of the ‘benefitted” poor are routinely dispossessed of the little they buy with loans from Grameen, a not infrequent occurrence in a poor nation entirely dependent on Nature for success in agriculture. The best that can be said for Grameen’s repossession processes is that it’s the downside of banking. What horrifies his countrymen is the ease with which Yunus plays the poster visionary- revolutionary-saviour of the poor for the media. Such as yours. Taking a leaf out of his initial model, corporations in India are not only providing the same kind of micro-credit, they are doing better than Grameen in terms of bad loans because they give better counsel to borrowers on how best to use their resources. It’s something Yunus and Grameen could learn from, for the sake of his crumbling image in the land where you say he’s such a revolutionary..
What a gift you are to all of us. We need your motivation, your creativity, your inspiration. Thank you