Microfinance pioneer to enter politics

Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and the winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize, has decided to create a political party in order to help lift Bangladesh from the current political crisis, The Times Online reported Tuesday. Yunus, known as the “banker to the poor,” has asked that all Bangladeshis help him to build a better country in the wake of last month’s imposition of a military-backed government and election cancellations. Yunus sees it as his duty to make the jump into politics, though he realizes this might stir up controversy. The democratic system in Bangladesh had been led by two widows that have alternated between prime Minister and opposition leader for almost 16 years. Yunus’s popularity in the countryside is questionable, and many worry he will not be able to garner enough support to challenge the current structure.

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