Steven Holt: “For centuries, we have lauded the achievements of great entrepreneurs, whether the automobile industry of Henry Ford or…”

“For centuries, we have lauded the achievements of great entrepreneurs, whether the automobile industry of Henry Ford or the iPhone of Steve Jobs. Business was the province of people with money. As the old cynical joke goes, banks would loan money only to people who don't need it. So throughout the world, and especially in the post-colonial developing world, the chance of escaping poverty and living a dignified life seemed an impossible dream for millions and millions. One person has helped transform the dream into a possibility--in fact, a reality-- of family sufficiency for people all over the planet. When the Nobel Committee awarded Dr. Muhammad Yunus and the financial institution he created, the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, the Nobel Peace Prize a few years back, the Committee made the award for ``their efforts to create economic and social development from below.'' I'll phrase it differently. Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank received the award for treating people with dignity and giving millions around the world hope. Today, in the rotunda here at the U.S. Capitol, we honor Dr. Yunus with the Congressional Gold Medal. Muhammad Yunus has shown us being a visionary does not mean promoting the impractical or the impossible. Unlike some economic theories advanced over centuries, Dr. Yunus' theories have been proven to work. To date, the Grameen Foundation and the bank and its partners have helped 9.4 million of the world's poorest people receive microloans.…”