Muhammad Yunus: how to get Moldova and the rest of the world out of poverty

Two distinguished personalities made inspiring keynote speeches at yesterday's event: President Bill Clinton and Professor Muhammad Yunus. Prof. Yunus also provided a hint about ways to address Moldova's problems.

This blog features Prof. Yunus' speech which focused on his vision on eradicating poverty in the world. He believes that the current financial system is inherently flawed because it excludes roughly two thirds of the world's population. Out of his determination to find a way to provide financing to the poor, the microfinancing model emerged in his home country, Bangladesh and then spread all over the world, reaching even Queens, New York.

The clients - and owners - of the Grameen Bank are poor women from rural areas in Bangladesh. They can afford to send their children to school who eventually become exposed to and prepared to respond to existing economic opportunities. Their children's children receive even better education and climb a step higher on the social ladder. This is the idea at the heart of Grameen Bank. By releasing their latent energy, people can get themselves out of poverty. Yunus' answer to the fundamental question Why are people poor? is:

"Poverty is not created by the poor people. It is not their fault. Poverty is created by the institutions we build or don't build, by policies we pursue, by concepts we have designed. Poverty is not in the person. Poverty is an artificial imposition on the person."

Yunus stresses the importance of building a new economic paradigm which would include not only the selfishness inherent in the human nature but also the powerful human drive for selfless deeds, for helping others. Selfishness and selflessness can successfully coexist in the social business model. Recycling money (social business or entrepreneureship) is more effective than giving away money (philanthropy) because the money (scarce resource) is used multiple/endless times and creates sustainable change. People can make money and then spend that money wisely on a social cause. Social business can make people truly happy, and ultimately, solve many of today's urgent global problems. In the end, Muhammad Yunus shared his powerful vision of a world without poverty:

"There is no reason why anybody should be poor in the world. When we clean up the poverty in the world, we will create create poverty museums so our children's children can see what poverty used to be."