This post was largely written months ago before Enter Venture was launched. While this post is a bit removed from the event it tries to represent, I decided to post this piece anyways. Muhammad Yunus is an amazing entrepreneur.

On January 23rd, I was fortunate enough to listen to a talk by Muhammad Yunus, one of the great entrepreneurs of our time. Muhammad Yunus is the founder to the world’s most successful — if not pioneering — microfinance institution, the Grameen Bank. This groundbreaking organization has profitably uplifted impoverished communities using small loans all across Bangladesh. He’s written a few books about his experiences, and it’s also earned him the Noble Prize. Not bad, huh?

Yunus’ speech drew a large and diverse crowd to the top floor of the Barnes & Nobles in Union Square, which was nearly overwhelmed by the event. The entire floor was filled with listeners straining over bookshelves to hear this man speak. I can say, without a doubt, that this was the best speech I’ve ever heard while standing in the Philosophy section of a bookstore.

Yunus spoke to the crowd for roughly an hour in a soft, understated tone that seemed more suited for a small seated gathering yet somehow worked with the swelling crowd anyways. It reminded me of what it must have felt like to have an elder tribesman lecturing by the camp fire. That is, if I were a tribesman. Yunus didn’t necessarily lecture or preach. He told stories, and in his stories you could find lessons

Yunus’ genius is most obvious in the way he diminishes his successes, the way he simplifies them. There’s no hint from him that he’s drastically changed the way the world views the financial clout of the poor. There’s no indication that he’s done something game changing. Instead, Muhammad has simply “given money to impoverished women so they could buy a goat and asked that they pay him back.” Talk about an understatement.

The Grameen Bank is one of those organizations that defies long-established conventions for what a business should be. It’s a profitable business, but it doesn’t only measure itself by profit. It’s “another type of business,” Yunus says. Rather, the bank is interested in profit AND the social uplift of its customers.

I have long been fascinated by these types of businesses and the entrepreneurs that create them. As much as I love tech and web businesses, the social sector represents the real apex of innovation. Not only do these entrepreneurs create new systems, but they are creating new frameworks. The social sector is redefining what a business is and what it serves to accomplish.

Even more impressive, these entrepreneurs and organizations typically operate in the most extreme of conditions. Can you imagine what it must be like organizing the distribution and collection of loans to impoverished women throughout rural Bangladesh? It puts your scaling issues to shame. Begun in the late 1970s, how many times do you think he faced doubting investors, personnel issues, and near failure ?

In creating the Grameen Bank, Yunus finds that everyone is entrepreneurial with the right conditions. Village women needed capital support to create sustainable businesses. Street beggars needed a support network of their peers to keep them accountable. “A seed from the tallest tree, planted in a pot will not grow,” Yunus tells us. For all of you early entrepreneurs, remember that. Success requires the right environment. Persevere. Improve what you can control.

Muhammad Yunus does not talk about Muhammad Yunus. Like any great leader, he talks about everyone that has helped make him successful and takes none of the credit. He talks about the the wonderful programs his staff have come up with, the amazing energy of the people he works with, etc.

For all of these reasons and all of the reasons I’ve forgotten since Yunus’ speech, Yunus is the embodiment of a great entrepreneur and someone that every early entrepreneur should emulate.

Posted in Entrepreneur, Events