Yunus ‘top Guru’ at International Islamic Finance Forum

Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus is to headline the International Islamic Finance Forum (IIFF) with a full-day session on Sunday 13 April explaining his success in alleviating poverty through microfinance.

Yunus will be holding a ‘Guru of the Day' even, whereby he will be explaining his microfinance methods and how these can help businesses and corporations assist poor people, particularly women.

"While the concept of providing credit to the poor as a tool of poverty reduction is not unique, Yunus realised that the creation of an institution was needed to lend to those who had nothing," said Swati Taneja, IIFF conference manager.

"His interpretations go to the very heart of Islamic belief in terms of finance."

Yunus first became involved with poverty reduction in Bangladesh after observing that very small loans could make a critical difference to a poor person. In 2006, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, together with Grameen Bank, the bank he founded and is Managing Director of.

He will be headlining the IIFF, which runs in Dubai from April 13-17, and is being held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai.

Established in Dubai eight years ago, IIFF is considered to be a premier event in the global Islamic finance calendar.

"The Islamic finance industry has grown by leaps and bounds since the forum first began, particularly in the Middle East which now sees billions of dollars worth of deals and issues growing annually," said Taneja.

"Pioneering international Islamic finance practitioners and scholars will be converging on Dubai, which has set its sights on becoming the leading centre for Islamic finance not only regionally but internationally."