Visit and Lecture from Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus on Saturday 18 May

On Saturday 18 May, Professor Muhammad Yunus, the “world’s banker to the poor”, will visit Salford, giving colleagues, students and members of the public the chance to speak with the inspiring world leader.
Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi banker and economist widely credited for developing the concepts of microcredit and microfinance.

He is only the seventh person in history to have won the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. This achievement places him in the company of Norman Borlaug, Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela, Elie Wiesel, Aung San Suu Kyi and Mother Teresa.
Yunus’ concept of micro-credit – small loans given to poor villagers in Bangladesh to help them buy livestock or fund an enterprise – has grown from $27 he loaned out of his own pocket into the Grameen Bank, which has loaned more than $25 billion to some 20 million borrowers around the world. Despite a lack of collateral or signed loan documents, 99 per cent of the loans have been paid back. The Grameen Bank provides services to more than 71,000 villages in Bangladesh alone through 2,226 branches and his programme now operates in more than 100 countries including the USA. The first Grameen branch in the UK will open soon.

At our 18 May summit, which will mark the announcement of Salford’s new Social Business Centre, Yunus will speak about the importance of social ventures that depart from purely profit-driven business models. He will also urge students and all those with entrepreneurial spirit to consider pursuing businesses motivated by social causes rather than profit alone. Yunus will be joined by number of distinguished guest speakers including Salford alumna Fay Selvan (CEO of the Big Life Group) and who will present ideas, solutions and case studies on the impact of social business creation on the lives and health of disadvantaged communities.
Colin McCallum, Executive Director of University Advancement, said: “Having Professor Yunus visit the University is a tremendous privilege and coup for us. He is one of the world’s most inspiring individuals and one of the original Global Elders, along with Nelson Mandela, Mary Robinson and Kofi Annan. His visit has sparked an interest among a number of colleagues to build on many activities already taking place across campus around the encouragement of social enterprise, social and community benefit and micro-finance research. Salford is a University that has always been firmly rooted in its local community, but with international reach. Muhammad Yunus exemplifies our mission and I hope his visit will serve to inspire us all.”
For more information and to register for this event on Saturday 18 May, please register at https://supporters.salford.ac.uk/MuhammadYunus.