Fish Client Receives 2006 Nobel Peace Prize

Fish & Richardson’s client, Muhammad Yunus, founder of Bangladeshi Grameen Bank, has been awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his creation of an international “microcredit” loan program to poor recipients.

Fish & Richardson’s client, Muhammad Yunus, founder of Bangladeshi Grameen Bank, has been awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his creation of an international “microcredit” loan program to poor recipients.

In the mid 1970s, Yunus, an economist on a field trip with his students at Chittagong University, learned that artisans were borrowing money at an interest rate of 10 percent or higher per week in order to purchase the necessary materials for their trade and subsequent sale, often leaving them with little or no profit. Several years later Yunus formed the Grameen Bank (“village bank”) with his own money. Today, Grameen Bank boasts over 1,000 branches serving more than 2 million borrowers in more than 37,000 villages throughout the nation. 97 percent of the borrowers are women and more than 98 percent of the loans are repaid. The Grameen model is now being used in 58 other countries, including the United States and Canada.

Fish & Richardson is also in negotiations for Yunus’ next book tentatively titled, Social Entrepreneurship and the End of Poverty with Public Affairs and JC Lattes in France.