Today, if you look at financial systems around the globe, more than half the population of the world - out of six billion people, more than three billion - do not qualify to take out a loan from a bank. This is a shame.

Th direct elimination of elimination of poverty should be the objective of all development aid. Development should be viewed as a human rights issue, not as a question of simply increasing the gross national product (GNP).

I believe that "government", as we know it today, should pull out of most things except for law enforcement and justice, national defense and foreign policy, and let the private sector, a "Grameenized private sector", a social-consciousness-driven private sector, take over their other functions.

Charity only perpetuates poverty by taking the initiative away from the poor.

I think, social business is the most logical thing to do. If we had done that, we could reduce all the problems we have.

If you think creating a world without any poverty is impossible, let's do it. Because it is the right thing to do.

Access to quality education has enabled me to reach far beyond the Bangladeshi village I grew up in.