'We need his ideas more than ever': What Narayana Murthy said on Muhammad Yunus

Murthy added that in today's world, Yunus' ideas are more relevant than ever before

Amid the unfolding crisis in Bangladesh, the spotlight is on Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and founder of Grameen Bank, who has been tasked with rebuilding the nation.

In a column to the Print, Infosys founder Narayana Murthy praised Yunus as a transformative figure in social entrepreneurship. "In today’s troubled world, we need Yunus and his ideas more than ever," he wrote. The Nobel laureate is expected to take oath as the head of the interim government.

Applauding Yunus for the transformative concept of 'microfinance', Murthy noted that while many of those entrepreneurs built profitable businesses at the cutting edge of modern technology that made them (and others) very wealthy, others focused their talents on social entrepreneurship and innovation. They built world-class institutions that helped solve social and environmental problems in creative ways that could be scaled to positively impact millions.

"Today we take microfinance – the ability to provide financial products to the world’s poor on a commercial basis for their and society’s benefit—as a given. But until Yunus showed how it could be done on a massive scale, the ideas on which modern microfinance rests appeared absurd. In this and other ways, he turned what was once unthinkable into something that is obvious and taken for granted," expressed Murthy in the column.

"Some of the companies they created were for-profit, some non-profit, and other hybrid in nature. What they all had in common was their innovative thinking about problems like poverty, illiteracy, ill-health, and climate change that leveraged market forces, technology and the idealism of individuals and groups to change lives and indeed, entire nations," observed the Infosys founder.

Drawing a comparison with entrepreneurs across the globe, Murthy, reiterated Yunus' long-term contribution by stating that other leaders studied his model and successfully implemented it in their respective countries.

"Other leaders studied his models and adapted them in places as diverse as the Philippines, the United States, Kenya, and India. His influence on the thinking and work of a generation of traditional and social entrepreneurs is undeniable," observed Murthy.

Lauding the scholar for his contribution towards  ensuring social equity, Murthy said over the past two decades, Yunus has designed a model for impact-first entrepreneurship that he calls “social business” and then created dozens of organisations that apply this approach to improving health care, education, the environment, and the positive role that sports can play in improving society.

Murthy added that in today's world, Yunus' ideas are more relevant than ever before. "In today’s troubled world, we need Yunus and his ideas more than ever. This is true in India, other major economies, and smaller, less developed countries and regions," expressed Murthy in the column.