Muhammad Yunus got his PhD from Vanderbilt University on a Fulbright Scholarship. After returning to his native Bangladesh, he became the head of the Economics Department at Chittagong University. 

Yunus was working on economic programs with local woman were taking out loans at exorbitant interest rates to make bamboo furniture, leaving them little chance to make a living through their work. He realized that making very small loans could make an enormous difference to a poor person. His first loan was for $27 US from his pocket, to 42 women in the village. This was the beginning of microcredit. 

He founded Grameen Bank, which by July 2007 had issued $6.38 billion US to 7.4 million borrowers, 94% of them women. With repayment rates of 94-97%, microcredit has disproved the consensus among bankers that the poor are poor credit risks, and has helped countless individuals to work their way out of poverty. Through Grameenphone, one of Grameen's now diversified interests, the Village Phone project has helped 260,000 people in over 50,000 rural villages own cell phones.