CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, will discuss his vision for eliminating poverty worldwide on Feb. 5at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The free public lecture will be at 11 a.m. in Koury Auditorium at Kenan-Flagler Business School off Bowles Drive, near the Dean E. Smith Center. Yunus, who founded the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh in 1983, shared the Nobel Prize with the bank for creating and implementing the concept of microcredit: giving small loans to the poor to help them start or grow businesses and climb out of poverty. The Office of International Affairs, through its Global Education Distinguished Speakers Series, and Kenan-Flagler are sponsoring the event. "We are extremely fortunate to have Dr. Yunus speak here about one of the most important and, indeed, successful financial and social innovations of the past 30 years: micro-lending," said Peter Coclanis, Ph.D., associate provost for international affairs. "Beginning in the 1970s with Yunus' Grameen village project in Bangladesh, micro-lending has spread globally and, in so doing, helped to raise both the living standards and the dignity of individuals and communities all over the world." Yunus, Ph.D., believes banishing poverty is the key to world peace. He will take audience questions after his talk, then sign copies of his latest book, "Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism" (PublicAffairs, 2007). "Microfinance is an element of our sustainability curriculum and research at Kenan-Flagler," said James W. Dean Jr., Ph.D., dean of the business school. "This important visit will help more people understand the links between leadership and business approaches to fight poverty. And in these difficult times, we welcome the success story of Grameen Bank, which illustrates what leaders can do when they harness market forces for good." With one small personal loan, Yunus began the Grameen Bank Project in 1976 in the small village of Jobra, Bangladesh. A law passed in 1983 helped create the bank itself. Donations helped the bank until 1998, when deposits rose to a level sufficient to support credit and repayment programs. Now the bank has 2,535 branches in 83,343 villages. As of last October, Grameen's deposits totaled to the equivalent of more than $844 million in U.S. dollars. Ninety-five percent of the bank's equity is owned by its 7.61 million borrowers worldwide - 97 percent of them women. By loaning to women, Grameen offers credit to the poorest and least empowered. The bank's loan recovery rate is more than 98 percent. No collateral is required for borrowing from Grameen, which has made a profit in all its years but three. A special program provides interest-free loans to more than 100,000 beggars, which they use to buy such items as quilts or to begin small enterprises. Many beggars make weekly payments of the equivalent of 3.4 cents. A recent survey conducted by the bank found that 65 per cent of Grameen borrowers' families have crossed the poverty line and the rest are moving toward the poverty line from below. Other special Grameen programs concern housing, scholarships, life insurance, pension funds and more. People interested in attending the lecture are asked to RSVP to kfbsrsvp@unc.edu. For updates and information, visit www.global.unc.edu or call (919) 962-2435. Copies of Yunus' new book are on sale at the Bull's Head Bookshop, off South Road in the UNC Student Stores. Beginning Feb. 5, a limited number of signed copies will be available. Besides the two main sponsors, Yunus' talk is supported by a variety of UNC units including the Carolina Entrepreneurial Initiative and Center for Sustainable Enterprise at Kenan-Flagler; the Campus Y; and the student group Carolina Microfinance Initiative.