Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus, who founded the practice of microcredit as a means to combat global poverty, will speak at Quinnipiac University on Monday, March 7.

Recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, Yunus will deliver the lecture “Microcredit and Social Business for Poverty Reduction” at 7 p.m. in the Burt Kahn Court on Quinnipiac’s Mount Carmel Campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Quinnipiac’s Albert Schweitzer Institute and School of Business are sponsoring the lecture. 

Yunus, a Bangladeshi economist, established the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh in 1983, driven by his belief that credit is a fundamental human right. His objective was to help impoverished people escape poverty by providing them loans and teaching them a few sound financial principles.

Today the Grameen Bank is at the forefront of a burgeoning world movement to eradicate poverty through microloans.

“Dr. Yunus is not just the father of micro-lending, he is also the visionary behind  ‘social business’ as something distinct from traditional, profit-oriented business and from social entrepreneurship,” said Mohammad Elahee, professor of international business and native of Bangladesh who helped arrange Yunus’ visit to Quinnipiac.

“Because of Yunus’ efforts, millions of people, and especially destitute women, have been uplifted from abject poverty and now live with dignity. His ideas present a new direction for attaining global peace,” Elahee said.

David Ives, executive director of Quinnipiac’s Albert Schweitzer Institute, has met Yunus at conferences. Yunus will join the institute’s Honorary Board of Directors.

“He’s a hero of mine,” Ives said. “He has proven that even the poorest people can become entrepreneurs and lift themselves out of poverty with a little help.”

For more information, call 203-582-8652.