Nobel Peace Prize recipient Professor Muhammad Yunuspictured center, with members of the Grameen Bank board, at the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Norway in December 2006Â-.

Nobel Peace Prize recipient Professor Muhammad Yunuspictured center, with members of the Grameen Bank board, at the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Norway in December 2006.Â- Designed to provide tiny loans for small businesses, Grameen’s microcredit system of almost 2,500 branches serves 7.34 million borrowers, 97 percent of whom are women. The bank works on “social collateral,” which means that there are no legal documents or lawyers to assure repayment; yet repayment rates are at 98-99 percent, which is higher than any other banking system. Read more about Yunus and his vision for “social businesses” in this week’s cover story, a Q&A with UCSB Professor Richard Appelbaum.

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