Approximately 140 attendees listened intently as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus discussed the foundations of his book “Creating a World Without Poverty” at the Islamic Development Bank Group headquarters in Jeddah on Tuesday 18 November 2008.

Approximately 140 attendees listened intently as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus discussed the foundations of his book “Creating a World Without Poverty” at the Islamic Development Bank Group headquarters in Jeddah on Tuesday 18 November 2008. The lecture was a part of the agenda of the tenth meeting of the Arab Gulf Programme for United Nations Development Organizations (AGFUND) Prize Committee meeting and served as a session to inform participants of the various avenues that may be utilized in an effort to alleviate global poverty. Dr. Yunus, the recipient of over 90 awards in four countries including the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 awarded to him and his Grameen Bank for their efforts to create economic and social development, explained his theory that people should not go to banks, rather that banks should go to the people. He explained that it is through this effort, that poverty in its truest sense can be observed, understood, and accordingly alleviated. “Poverty is not created by poor people,” Dr. Yunus argued, “poverty is created by institutions and policies and artificially imposed on them. If you want to change the status of these people, you must change the institution and policies.” Through his establishment of Grameen Bank (or Bank for the Poor) and the effective utilization of microcredit, Dr. Yunus helped distribute USD 7.43 billion worth of loans to the poor in what Dr. Yunus stated as Grameen Bank’s efforts to “make sure [they] reached the poorest people.” Dr. Yunus introduced his concept of Social Businesses discussed in his book and explained that “the charity dollar has one life while the social business dollar has an endless life.” He said that Social Business is a non-loss, non-dividend business aimed at achieving social objectives in any area a society faces problems with. According to Dr. Yunus, Social Business, among other mechanisms, can help in accelerating the process of poverty eradication to ultimately target a poverty-free world.