A Radical Idea

Muhammad walked slowly down the muddy road in Bangladesh, his heart breaking as starved faces gazed at him pitifully, their blank eyes begging for help. Children who should be playing in the streets were laying helplessly, their life ebbing away from starvation. He knew that most of them would die from starvation. His heart was ripped by the looks of desperation on the faces of parents who knew their children were dying but could do nothing to help them.

Bangladesh, caught in the grip of yet another natural disaster these parents could do nothing to stop, was losing more than a million people who were dying horrible deaths.

Muhammad’s eyes filled with tears as he remembered his own beginning. . .

By all accounts, Muhammad had every reason to make excuses for his lack of opportunity. Born the third of nine children in 1940 in a small village in Bangladesh (then known as British India) Muhammad was four when his family moved to the city of Chittagong – escaping a famine that claimed millions of people. When he was nine, his mother was afflicted with a mental illness. But even with the resulting family difficulties little Muhammad excelled at school – he had an insatiable thirst for knowledge. By the age of 21, he had received his Master’s Degree in Economics.

Over the next few years Muhammad continued his schooling and held government and teaching positions in both Bangladesh and the United States. Little did he know that his love of learning, his understanding of economics and his years of living in the U.S. would change the lives of millions of people.

And now here he was. . . Bangladesh was in the grip of a horrific famine that was claiming innocent lives.

An idea started to take root in his consciousness and soon his vision became very clear. Ask him what that vision is and he’ll tell you it’s the total eradication of poverty from the world. A huge vision, right? Yet it was a natural progression for Muhammad -- his years of study and research in economics coupled with his deep understanding of both Eastern and Western culture gave birth to his solution.

What is the one thing the poorest of the poor cannot get? Credit -- loans. Muhammad had the crazy idea of opening a bank that gave credit to those who could never receive it. It would be a bank that would empower the very poorest people by helping them become entrepreneurs.

And so, in 1976 Muhammad created the Grameen Bank which gives microcredit (small loans) to the poorest of the poor so they can launch businesses and lift their families out of poverty. Is it working? Oh, yes – it is – in a BIG way!! The World Bank recently acknowledged Muhammad’s radical idea: “this business approach to the alleviation of poverty has allowed millions of individuals to work their way out of poverty with dignity.”

Muhammad says, “Grameen is a message of hope, a program for putting homelessness and destitution in a museum so that one day our children will visit it and ask how we could have allowed such a terrible thing to go on for so long.”

This amazing man has won many, many awards around the world because of his far-reaching, sustainable ideas. In 2006, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and was named by Business Week as one of “The Greatest Entrepreneurs of All Time.”

But Muhammad’s sharp mind and huge heart have not stopped with the creation of the Grameen Bank and microcredit. He has recently published a book entitled Creating a World Without Poverty in which he challenges and empowers businesses to make a difference in the world.

What would have happened if Muhammad had spent his time thinking about what he couldn’t do instead of imagining and acting upon what he could do? Just think of the millions of lives around the world that his simple but profound and revolutionary ideas have changed!

Have you ever caught yourself limiting yourself by thinking, “I can’t do that” or “I’m only one person” or “If I only had more money, a different upbringing, lived in a different neighborhood. . . I could do this or accomplish that”?

Your potential – like Muhammad Yunus’ – is unlimited. It doesn’t matter where you were born or who your parents are. It doesn’t matter what your past was like or where you find yourself today.

Take the word “can’t” out of your vocabulary and replace it with the word “can.”

Exchange the word “problem” with the word “opportunity” and watch your world change!