Design banking system that benefits poor, Nobel laureate Muhamamd Yunus tells management students

Eminent economist and Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus asked management students to design a banking system that would benefit all particularly the poorer section of the society during an interactive session at Xavier’s School of Management (XLRI) in steel city Jamshedpur.

Yunus said, “The seed of poverty prevails in the system and it can be broken by reversing the system.”

He asked the future managers to build a system that will help the weaker section of the society.

The Nobel laureate further said, “The banks are for rich people. It does not exist for the poor class. More than half of the world population has nothing to do with the banking.”

Yunus pointed out the difficulties he had to face while he worked for the welfare of the poor in his country — Bangladesh.

Talking about business the Nobel laureate said, “Business is a medium for solving problems and reducing disparity between the various economic sections of the society.”

He went on to talk about the problems encountered in his crusade against loan-sharks and his commitment to serve the destitute who lacked access to basic financial services.

Yunus illustrated the progress that societies can make through entrepreneurship by citing various examples from different parts of the world.

The Nobel laureate advocated about helping the downtrodden sections of the society through business which makes money and ensured sustainable progress.

Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for founding the Gramin Bank and pioneering the concepts of micro-credit and micro-finance.

 (With PTI inputs)