Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus is the father of both Social Business and Microcredit, the founder of Grameen Bank, and more than 50 other companies in Bangladesh. He was born on June 28, 1940, to a Bengali Muslim family in a village in Hathazari, Chittagong in the Bengal Presidency of the British Raj, present Bangladesh. His father was Hazi Dula Mia Shoudagar, a jeweler, and his mother was Sufia Khatun. He passed the matriculation examination from Chittagong Collegiate School, he travelled to West Pakistan and India in 1952, and to Canada in 1955 to attend Jamborees. Later, while Muhammad Yunus was studying at Chittagong College, he became active in cultural activities and won awards for drama. In 1957, he enrolled in the Department of Economics at Dhaka University and completed his BA in 1960 and MA in 1961.

For his constant innovation and enterprise, Fortune Magazine named Professor Yunus in March 2012 as “one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time.” In 2006, Professor Yunus and Grameen Bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He is the recipient of 61 honorary degrees from universities across 24 countries. He has received 136 awards from 33 countries including state honors from 10 countries. He is one of only seven individuals to have received the Nobel Peace Prize, the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the United States Congressional Gold Medal. He has appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, Newsweek, and Forbes Magazine.