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According to Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, social enterprises run by women and young people can fix the world's most pressing problems. Bangladesh's Yunus won the Nobel prize in 2006 jointly with Grameen Bank, the microfinance organisation he founded. Nicknamed "banker to the poor", Yunus started his movement 40 years ago with loans worth just $27 to women in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Grameen Bank has since delivered millions of tiny loans to poor people who do not have access to mainstream banking. Some countries in Asia, including Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines have passed legislation or revised laws to support social business ventures. But what's more important is adapting educational institutions and the financial system to encourage entrepreneurship and social business, Yunus said.

Grameen Foundation and Freedom from Hunger have joined forces to form a single unified organization. Its mission is to enable the poor, especially women, to create a world without hunger and poverty. Both organizations have roots in the earliest movements for microfinance, and today conduct programs that tackle poverty and hunger from multiple directions. Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh endorses the integration under the banner of Grameen Foundation. To better execute the integration, a newly reconstituted Board of Trustees will draw half of its membership from each organization. The new Executive Staff includes members of each organization. Over the coming months the two organizations will bring together their core programs and develop new approaches.

CEO of AlHuda Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics - Zubair Mughal - explained at an International Microfinance Conference in at an International Microfinance Conference that in the time of the global financial crisis even developed countries are making efforts to fight the global issue of poverty. The conference was organised by the Government of Indonesia together with the World Bank. 600 people took part in the conference, among them delegates and experts from 30 different countries. Some of the prominent participants were President of Indonesia Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Noble Prize Winner Dr Muhammad Yunus, Director of Global Microcredit Summit Campaign Dr Larry Reed, and Mayada El. Zoghbhi from the World Bank.

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