Transformational Leadership Award Symposium April 27-28,2012
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2012 Transformational Leadership Award Dinner & Symposium April 27-28, 2012 Friday evening, April 27 6:00 P.M. - 10:00 P.M. Transformational Leadership Award Dinner Saturday, April 28 7:00 A.M. - 8:30 A.M. Executive VIP Breakfast Panel - Social Business 8:30 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. Transformational Leadership Symposium Location: Westin River North 320 N. Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL For more information and to register go to www.TransformLeadership.org. A Man with a Vision for Humanity. The Foundation for Transformational Leadership is proud to recognize Dr. Muhammad Yunus as the 2012 recipient of the Transformational Leadership Award, in honor of his achievements as a humanitarian and social entrepreneur. The Award ceremony will take place as part of the 2012 Transformational Leadership Award & Symposium, April 27-28, honoring Dr.Yunus and featuring Dr. Richard Boyatzis, Professor James Liautaud, and other cutting edge thought leaders in the area of Social and Emotional Intelligence for transformational leadership. Dr. Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and the micro- finance movement, is a powerful agent of economic independence for the poorest of Bangladesh’s poor. In September 2010, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill awarding Dr. Muhammad Yunus the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor given to recognize national heroes. This award, bestowed by the United States Congress, is, along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Presidential Citizens Medal, the highest civilian award in the United States. In 2006, Dr. Yunus received a Nobel Peace Prize, and in 2009, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Only six other individuals have received all three distinctions: Martin Luther King Jr., Elie Wiesel, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Norman Borlaug, Aung San Suu Kyi. Dr. Yunus has over 40 honorary degrees and is one of the founding members of Global Elders, an international non-government organization of public figures noted as elder statesmen, peace activists, and human rights advocates, brought together by Nelson Mandela in 2007. – Recipient of The Foundation’s 2012 Transformational Leadership Award
Transcript
2012 Transformational Leadership Award Dinner & SymposiumApril 27-28, 2012
Friday evening, April 276:00 P.M. - 10:00 P.M.
Transformational Leadership Award Dinner
Saturday, April 28 7:00 A.M. - 8:30 A.M.
Executive VIP Breakfast Panel - Social Business
8:30 A.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Transformational Leadership Symposium
Location: Westin River North
320 N. Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL
For more information and to register
go to www.TransformLeadership.org.
A Man with a Vision for Humanity.
The Foundation for Transformational Leadership is proud to recognize Dr. Muhammad Yunus as the 2012 recipient of the Transformational Leadership Award, in honor of his achievements as a humanitarian and social entrepreneur. The Award ceremony will take place as part of the 2012 Transformational Leadership Award & Symposium, April 27-28, honoring Dr.Yunus and featuring Dr. Richard Boyatzis, Professor James Liautaud, and other cutting edge thought leaders in the area of Social and Emotional Intelligence for transformational leadership.
Dr. Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and the micro-finance movement, is a powerful agent of economic independence for the poorest of Bangladesh’s poor. In September 2010, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill awarding Dr. Muhammad Yunus the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor given to recognize national heroes. This award, bestowed by the United States Congress, is, along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Presidential Citizens Medal, the highest civilian award in the United States.
In 2006, Dr. Yunus received a Nobel Peace Prize, and in 2009, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Only six other individuals have received all three distinctions: Martin Luther King Jr., Elie Wiesel, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Norman Borlaug, Aung San Suu Kyi. Dr. Yunus has over 40 honorary degrees and is one of the founding members of Global Elders, an international non-government organization of public figures noted as elder statesmen, peace activists, and human rights advocates, brought together by Nelson Mandela in 2007.
– Recipient of The Foundation’s 2012 Transformational Leadership Award
Bangladesh is widely recognized as one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Natural hazards resulting from increased rainfall, rising sea levels, and tropical cyclones are expected to occur more frequently due to climate change, each seriously affecting agriculture, water and food security, human health, and shelter. According to some studies, about a quarter of Bangladesh’s land mass will be lost by 2100 to rising sea levels, potentially creating 30-40 million climate refugees. As a result of the large amount of arsenic leaching into the country’s groundwater supply from contaminated soil, experts estimate that 77 million Bangledashis have been exposed to toxic arsenic levels from drinking water.
Sixty percent of Bangladesh’s population is below the age of 25. Additionally, the country has a low life expectancy, with just five percent of the population living past the age of 65. The country also faces a low literacy rate: only 48% of the population considered literate, which is defined as barely able to read and write.
A Champion of the PoorDr. Muhammad Yunus began his remarkable journey as an economics professor in Bangla-desh. He believed that what he taught in class must be applicable to real world problems. This belief prompted him to take his students outside of the university classroom and into nearby villages. In 1976, during one such visit to one of the poorest village households, he discovered that loaning a small amount of money to a person living in poverty could make a dispro-portionate amount of difference in the person’s life. Armed with this insight, he started what would become the Grameen Bank, the world’s first micro-finance institution, by lending $27 out of his own personal savings to 42 women in the village. Through his devoted efforts over the last 36 years, the Grameen Bank has grown and expanded its impact worldwide, helping its clients establish creditworthiness and financial self-sufficiency. Today, the Grameen Bank helps over 8 million of the poor in Bangladesh, provid-ing them an opportunity to climb out of poverty and achieve financial independence. The impact extends far beyond Bangladesh: one in every 1000 people on the planet are being helped by Dr. Yunus’ work on micro-finance and other similar socially responsible businesses.
About BangladeshBangladesh is a small country in Southeast Asia bordered by India, Myanmar and the Bay of Bengal. Although only the size of Iowa, it is home to a population equivalent to half the population of the US. It is the world’s 9th most densely populated country with about 2,841 people per square mile. It produces only about $1500 in per capita GDP. As a small, poor, and densely populated coastal country, it faces a myriad of challenges – economic, environmental, social, and educational.
“Poor people are Bonsai people. If you take the seed of the tallest tree in the forest and put it in a flower pot, it grows only as big as the pot will let it. There’s nothing wrong with the seed; simply we did not give it enough space to grow.” – Dr. Muhammad Yunus
Dr. Yunus received the 2006
Nobel Peace Prize, the
2009 Presidential Medal
of Freedom and the U.S.
Congressional Gold medal.
This puts him in the
company of such historic
figures as Martin Luther
King Jr., Elie Wiesel, Mother
Teresa, Nelson Mandela,
Norman Borlaug, and
Aung San Suu Kyi.
Dr. Yunus “Transforming The Trend”Though faced with many challenges, Bangla-desh remains hopeful and dedicated to change. The GDP growth is currently 6.8%, and health and education have increased as poverty has decreased. Much of the economic advancement Bangladesh has enjoyed is the result of the efforts of Grameen Social Enterprises, pioneered by Dr. Yunus.
The flagship of Grameen Social Enterprises is the Grameen Bank. Since its founding, the Bank has expanded, nationally as well as internationally: it currently has approximately $9 Billion USD in loans outstanding, with a 99% repayment rate. The number of customers and villages served has doubled since 2003. Ninety-seven percent of these customers are women. Grameen Bank is perhaps the single most transformative agent in empowering women in a 3rd world country like Bangladesh, altering the social power of women and thus the social fabric of the nation to a more harmonious and dignified way of living. The model of the Grameen Bank is now replicated across the world and serves as the cornerstone for eradicating poverty globally via the United Nations.
Dr. Yunus continued his efforts towards helping Bangladesh by creating a myriad of social busi-nesses— businesses with a social mission and responsibility. The concept was born in Chicago via Shorebank but blossomed in Bangladesh, resulting in over 22 social enterprises. These businesses are all from the Grameen lineage and generate about $65 Billion USD – or roughly the same revenue as Microsoft.
The Foundation for Transformational Leadership | 445 E. Ohio St., Suite 400 | Chicago, IL 60611 | 312.645-8300
www.transformleadership.org
2012 Transformational Leadership Award and Symposium
