Over 600 people rose to their feet applauding as Dr Yunus arrived to tell the story of the birth of microfinance in Bangladesh, of how loans to the very poor can be based on trust and not on a credit history and of the plans for taking this approach even further. His talk was followed by a panel conversation, moderated by Bo Ekman (Tällberg Foundation) with Joakim Stymne (State Secretary to the Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation) and Ulla Holm (Global Director, Tetra Pak Food for Development). These panellists were joined by representatives of three institutions also co-hosting the event, Tomas Ries, the director of the Swedish Institute of International Affairs and two students, Christine Ambell and Robert Östling, from the Royal Institute of Technology and the Stockholm School of Economics, respectively. SparbanksAcademin and the New World order Development Forum were also co-hosting the event.

In his remarks, Dr Yunus spoke eloquently about how impoverished women possess the innate capacity for innovative business ideas so that they can take care of themselves and their family. This will only emerge if they are provided with a first financial seed and gentle encouragement. “When you approach the women for the first time and offer a loan, they say – Don’t give it to me, please don’t give it to me, I don’t know anything. Give it to my husband”. recounts Dr Yunus, “What Grameen does is unwrap the creativity that is in every person”.

He elaborated on the crucial distinction between profit-maximizing business and social business. “Business is very good at maximising profits for those providing investment”. He then explained how social enterprise leaves profits in the hands of those who need them and has thus proven to be a far superior tool when it comes to bringing people out of poverty. Business and the market economy have been instrumental in creating wealth and growth globally. But it has also played its part in creating a world where 40 percent of the world’s population controls 94 percent of wealth, with the other 60 percent sharing the remaining 6 percent. The business and institutional instruments that work in one world do not work in the other as Grameen so clearly illustrates. While nations struggle to help the homeless with shelter and food, Dr Yunus sketched out a recent Grameen project. “We help beggars expand their business into two divisions – the begging division and the sales division. If selling products becomes a better business than begging, then they close the begging division.”

In the panel conversation that followed, the Dr Yunus’ creative thinking was unmistakable. “Why throw away containers if you can make them edible?” he asked as he detailed tough considerations for any social business making and delivering food for the poor in a country like Bangladesh. Answering a question on the best use of government aid money, Dr Yunus suggested that projects such as bridge building could be a powerful bringer of wealth if investment, ownership and profits were directed directly to the poor local people themselves rather than national governments.

Most heart-warming were the stories of how Grameen loans had brought with them improvements in the everyday lives of borrowers, by bringing dignity and hope. Dr Yunus expressed his surprise at seeing how the loans had so quickly provided a future for the children of Grameen customers, as they were seen dressed in smart clothes, home visiting their mothers from studying at Bangladesh’s best colleges and universities. Over 6.7 million people have borrowed money from the bank, and they own the bank cooperatively. Indeed, accompanying Dr Yunus on his trip to Scandinavia to receive the Nobel Prize was the Bangladeshi woman, Mohammat Taslima Begum, who borrowed money from Grameen to buy a goat, then more to buy three goats. She now owns land with income-producing crops, and sits on the board of the bank. The enlightened approach to banking by Dr Yunus and Grameen made it possible for her to make the incredible journey from a tiny village to a ceremony to receive the Nobel Prize for Peace.