Muham­mad Yunus received the Medal of Free­dom today from U.S Pres­i­dent Obama. Yunus was rec­og­nized for found­ing micro­cre­dit, the prac­tice of giv­ing small loans to poor peo­ple with­out collateral.

From The Grameen Foun­da­tions blog, Grameen CEO Alex Counts wrote his reflec­tions on the ceremony.

Today’s cer­e­mony where Pres­i­dent Barack Obama pre­sented the Pres­i­den­tial Medal of Free­dom to Pro­fes­sor Muham­mad Yunus and other incred­i­bly accom­plished cit­i­zens was a moment when any Amer­i­can, and any per­son, who wants the world to be a bet­ter place to feel proud. When Pres­i­dent and Michelle Obama entered the room there was elec­tric­ity unlike any­thing I had ever seen. Clearly, the Pres­i­dent was enjoy­ing the oppor­tu­nity to honor peo­ple he deeply admired. The medals were pre­sented roughly in alpha­bet­i­cal order, so Pro­fes­sor Yunus was nearly the last to be men­tioned in the President’s speech and the last to be called up to receive his medal. The two exchanged a few words before the Pres­i­dent fas­tened the medal around Pro­fes­sor Yunus’ neck.
…

When Dr. Yunus’ invi­tees got their pic­ture taken with the Pres­i­dent and First Lady, I intro­duced myself and men­tioned that I was Pres­i­dent of Grameen Foun­da­tion. Michelle Obama said, “That’s great!” Dr. Yunus, stand­ing nearby, said, “So, you should be talk­ing to each other” – mean­ing Mrs. Obama and me. I can only hope that is what the future holds. For now, I am bask­ing in a day where I can feel proud of my coun­try and my asso­ci­a­tion with Grameen, and appre­ci­ate my good for­tune to be able to work under Dr. Yunus’ halo for a poverty-free world.

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