Yayasan Khazanah and the Malaysian Directors Academy (MINDA) are honoured to have the presence of Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus, founder and Managing Director of Grameen Bank, to deliver the keynote address titled “Social Business and Poverty Reduction” at the special luncheon on 1st December 2010.

The 2006 Nobel Laureate for Peace is highly regarded for his contributions in efforts to create economic and social development for the poor.

“Dr. Yunus is widely recognized for his leadership and development of micro-credit to reduce poverty. We’re indeed privileged that he has graciously accepted our invitation to speak today and we believe his insights would benefit the audience tremendously,” said Executive Director of Strategic Human Capital Management, Khazanah Nasional Berhad (“Khazanah”), Shahnaz Al-Sadat Abdul Mohsein. Khazanah established Yayasan Khazanah in 2006 as part of its commitment to the active development of human capital in Malaysia.

Dr. Yunus has successfully translated the seemingly impossible vision of disbursing loans to the poor who do not have any financial security into a practical business model. This has benefited millions of people, not only in Bangladesh, but also in many other countries.

From a modest beginning three decades ago, Dr. Yunus has, through Grameen Bank, developed micro-credit into an important financial instrument in the struggle against poverty. To date, Grameen Bank has disbursed loans amounting to almost USD10 billion, which benefited over 8.3 million borrowers residing in 81,000 villages throughout Bangladesh. The bank has also become a source of ideas and models for many institutions in the field of micro-credit which have sprung up around the world.

Dr. Yunus is author of three books, namely Banker for the Poor, Creating a World without Poverty and the latest, Building Social Business, which is dedicated solely towards the concept of social business – its implementation and maintenance.

Dr. Yunus was the speaker of the prestigious Khazanah Global Lectures in 2007. Yayasan Khazanah currently sponsors 10 students who are children of Grameen Bank employees in select universities in Malaysia via the Khazanah Asia Scholarship.

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