Long Read: Muhammad Yunus on Creating a ‘New Bangladesh’

As chief advisor to the interim government, Yunus is leading efforts to build a national consensus about how to reform Bangladesh’s economy, political system and society after 15 years of Sheikh Hasin

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus receives a bouquet after his arrival at the airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh Aug. 8, 2024. Photo: VCG

(Davos, Switzerland) — Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for founding the Grameen Bank in 1983, born out of a pilot project he started in 1976 to alleviate poverty and empower the country’s marginalized poor through microcredit.

Last year, at the age of 84, Yunus stepped into a new role as a politician. After the resignation of Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Aug. 5 following weeks of nationwide protests against her 15-year rule, President Mohammed Shahabuddin appointed him to form an interim government and to be its chief advisor. He took the oath of office on Aug. 8.