“Profit should not be the only reason that businesses exist…”- Muhammad Yunus

Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladesh banker and economist, was the one who developed the concept of microcredit. He gives loans in small rates for those people who want to create business but doesn’t have enough money. He built the Grameen Bank in 1983 to make loans for the poor in Bangladeshis.

The main intention of his bank is to lend money for the people who had nothing. Traditional banks, do not want the concept of having small loans with a low interest rate, for they are afraid that they might not be repaid. Yunus, on the other hand believed that the poor would repay the money that they borrowed. M.Y, did not failed on doing this, the Grameen Bank he established received a Noble Peace Prize award in 2006, because of his efforts to improve the economy through social entrepreneurship.

“It is a company which is focused on the social good and which makes a profit, but it is not focused on maximizing its profits. I am not interested in turning all profit-oriented companies into socially conscious operations. They are two different categories of companies -- there will always be businesses whose primary goal is that of earning as much money as possible. That is okay. But earning as much money as possible can only be a means to an end, not an end in itself. One has to invest money in something meaningful -- and I would make a case for it being something that improves the quality of life for all people.” Dr. Yunus said this on one of interviews in Spiegel Online.

Truly, Dr. Yunus helped a lot of people. He believed that the poor doesn’t ask for charity and charity is not the solution to poverty. He does not only do business just to maximize profits like other companies do. There’s a need for a lot of companies who do not only focuses on the profits they are earning, but that of providing greatest benefits for human kind.