Professor
Muhammad Yunus
Co-Founder & Chairman
Recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, Professor Muhammad Yunus is internationally recognized as the founder of microcredit and as the father of social business. For more than 30 years, he has successfully worked to meld capitalism & social responsibility. In 1976, he created the first institution to provide micro-loans to empower the poor to become entrepreneurs. Grameen Bank has since lent more than 6.5 billion dollars to those suffering extreme poverty across all five continents, while maintaining a consistent repayment rate above 98%.
Complimenting his work with microcredit, Prof Yunus pioneered the global social business movement. Today he continues to advocate for businesses that are created to solve human & environmental problems.
His early career as a professor of economics – followed by years of work with dignitaries and icons influencing global culture and economy – allow him unprecedented insight into the forces and industries that can affect powerful change through social business. He believes the sport world especially holds this potential today.
Aside from the Nobel Peace Prize, Prof Yunus is the recipient of several prestigious recognitions, including the Congressional Medal of Honor & the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Only six individuals in history have received all three distinctions.