Muhammad Yunus

Global X has had many chats with Muhammad Yunus, but most of the time when the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate was talking to other interesting people, such as Peter Gabriel, Pamela Hartigan, Vera Cordeiro, Rachel Payne, Sakena Yacoobi or Albina Ruiz.

Global X even met his daughter Monica Yunus, a soprano with the Metropolitan Opera in New York who sang in French just for him (and a few thousand other people): a piece from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. Her French was very good, thought Global X at that time.

At last, a few weeks ago, Global X had a chance to sit down with the Professor to have a little chat. Just the two of them (and a movie crew).

Global X, for once, was mesmerized and actually became speechless. Listen to Professor Yunus as he tells the story of the first US$27 loan in a village of Bangladesh, the loan that launched the microfinance movement. Watch him as he recalls how surprised he was that it took so little money to free village women from modern-day slavery, humiliation and torture.

David Bornstein (picture here), author of How to Change the World, told Global X (picture here) what happened when he was a young journalist and he first met Muhammad Yunus (picture here) in Bangladesh.

He also talks about his aunt Suzan, who taught him to climb the fence when necessary: "The world is a playground, and one shouldn't follow the rules at all times."

Not so long ago, Global X was bragging that he personally knew two MacArthur “Genius” Fellows –Jim Fruchterman and Victoria Hale. Looking for another opportunity to drop famous names on his blog, he was carefully watching the news to see what his next topic of conversation would be.

The big news came on Friday morning. As he was conducting his usual board-related business over breakfast (yes, Global X is on the board of a few social benefit organizations), he was interrupted by two txts, also called SMS, received on his mobile phone.

The first one came from Untangled to announce that Apple was launching a (Product) Red iPod to help eradicate AIDS in Africa. Excellent, thought Global X, as it gave him an excuse to buy a new iPod and appear socially conscious at the same time.

The second message came from France and simply said MY a le Nobel. It was pretty clear to Global X that MY was Muhammad Yunus and that the Nobel Prize had to be about peace.

Global X knows Muhamamd Yunus very well. They met once for approximately two minutes. They exchanged 14 words. Here is the whole conversation, as well as Global X remembers it:

- May I take a picture of you?
- But of course.
- Thank you very much.

How did this meaningful, deep, conversation occur? Global X was at the Skoll World Forum at Oxford last spring when he noticed that Muhammad Yunus was having lunch by himself on a bench in the main lobby. Eager to strike a conversation about the positive impact of micro-lending ventures on poverty in Bangladesh (a country X knows quite well), Global X convinced Rachel, his google.org friend, to pose with the Master. She didn’t need to be asked twice, as she has always been a great fan of his.

Then Global X noticed a few other well-known social entrepreneurs who were too shy to ask but obviously were eager to have their picture taken with their idol. That’s how Global X took pictures of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus with Sakeena Yacoobi, Vera Cordeiro and Albina Ruiz.

Global X is now eagerly checking his Tréo to see what the next big news will be. He already knows that he didn’t get this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature, despite his grandiose and epic blog. Global X checked his Flickr: no, he doesn’t know Orhan Pamuk personally.



Global X also keeps a wireless mobile photo blog.

Global X just noticed a fascinating picture on his friend’s Flickr. Mickipedia (yes, Global X has friends with cool names) took a picture of a billboard in Los Angeles, one that has raised quite a few eyebrows in the recent past.

The billboard shows an open letter from Emily to her (soon-to-be-ex) husband Steven. We don’t know who Emily is, but we certainly know what she thinks of the man she married: he is “a dirty, sneaky, immoral, unfaithful, poorly-endowed slimeball.”

First, Global X wondered what part of that sentence bothered Steven most when he first read it...

Then, Global X did some research and found out that Emily kept a blog on the Internet, in which she describes how she discovered that her husband was copulating with her best friend, and the revenge she was planning.

If the Kiva Chronicles are “the real-life story of a couple who decided to change the world, one loan at a time,” the Emily Chronicles can be best described as “the real-life story of a couple who decided to air their dirty underwear, one below-the-belt blow at a time.” It is the kind of “literature” one enjoys reading on the office computer while pretending to work during the summer heat.

But then Global X noticed that the blog was a bit odd. First, the grammar and punctuation were perfect, quite unusual on most amateurs’ blogs, especially if they are written by women who just found out they have been betrayed. Global X also noticed that Emily was posting every single day, a rare achievement for someone who has two full-time jobs –a career in real estate and one in marital revenge. Then Global X noticed that the billboard she refers to, located next to Steven’s office, was in New York. Mikipedia’s picture was shot in Los Angeles. New York, Los Angeles: two cities in the US where media and entertainment are a strong part of the local economy...

After doing a little more research, Global X found out that neither Emily nor Steven exists (although one could argue that every man is potentially a Steven), and that the billboard was just a very clever way to promote a new TV series that will start airing in the US mid-August.

Global X is now eager to watch how social entrepreneurs will use this viral marketing model to promote their work. A few ideas: "I was Bill Drayton's Fellow,” “Is Muhammad Yunus lending money to someone else?,” “Secret cameras at Davos,” “I was not invited to the Skoll World Forum.”


Global X also keeps a wireless mobile photo blog.

Not too long ago, Global X had lunch with Bill Drayton (in California) and with David Bornstein (in New York). Interestingly enough, both men addressed the same topic: “Everyone is a change maker.”

Bill Drayton, the well-known founder of Ashoka, told Global X that he liked talking about social entrepreneurship to college students: “They understand what is at stake. They also realize how important social entrepreneurship is to their lives, and how relevant it is to them personally, and to their friends and relatives.”

His point: “Social entrepreneurs should work with all these change makers who are so eager to help and so talented.” This is echoed in this week’s online discussion on the Edge – Engaging youth to be social entrepreneurs.

David Bornstein gave a crowd of aspiring social entrepreneurs, including this one and this one, some valuable advice: “You should start building relationships now with the kind of people you want to work with five years from now. This is true whether you are in college or later.”

He also told StartingBloc Fellows that after going to McGill, he became a computer programmer and dreamed of owning a Jaguar. Then he decided to write. He found out about the Grameen Bank (Village Bank) and spent five months in Bangladesh, where he met Muhammad Yunnus. The rest is history –or at least a very important book.

His point: “You may not have noticed it if you read the newspaper lately, but there are actually more social entrepreneurs than terrorists.” Everyone is a change maker indeed.


Global X also keeps a wireless mobile photo blog.

At the Skoll World Forum, Global X ran into Muhammad Yunus, the social entrepreneur who was able to lift 70 million people out of poverty.

He is not only a successful social entrepreneur, he is also a gentleman adored by women.

He was recently seen at the Skoll World Forum with Sakena Yacoobi, who launched the Afghan Institute of Learning, Vera Cordeiro (Renascer Child Health Association), Albina Ruiz (Ciudad Saludable) and Googlette extraordinaire Rachel Payne.


Global X also keeps a wireless mobile photo blog.