Outline of the SBRC

Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, is the founder of Grameen Bank, which provides small, unsecured loans to the poor in Bangladesh, and an advocate and practitioner of social business. Kyushu University concluded an exchange agreement with the Grameen Group in 2007 and established the Yunus & Shiiki Social Business Research Center (SBRC) in 2011. As the very first Yunus Center in Japan, the SBRC promotes social business in cooperation with various organizations and companies both in Japan and overseas.

The SBRC is engaged in research and education in, and incubation and promotion of social business. By collaborating and conducting joint research with related organizations in and outside Japan, the SBRC creates social business models for tackling global issues such as poverty, health, environment, energy, education, and natural disasters.

Dr. Yunus was born in Chittagong, Bangladesh, in 1940. He received his Ph.D in economics from Vanderbilt University, in the United States, in 1970, and returned to Bangladesh in 1972 to become head of the Department of Economics at Chittagong University.

After witnessing the poor suffering from the Bangladesh famine of 1974, Dr. Yunus started working on activities to eradicate poverty. In 1983, he established Grameen Bank, which provides unsecured microloans (microcredit) to the poor. Under his core philosophy that "a credit system for the poor requires neither mortgages nor collateral", Grameen Bank supported the independence of the poor in rural areas and provided small loans to the self-employed, particularly poor women, making a significant contribution to alleviate poverty in Bangladesh.

In recognition of his achievements, Dr. Yunus received the Nobel Peace Prize (Norway) in 2006 (with Grameen Bank). In addition, he has received more than 100 awards from around the world, including the Grand Prize of the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize 2001 (12th) (Japan), the Ramon Magsaysay Award (Philippines) known as the "Nobel Prize of Asia", the Presidential Medal of Freedom (U.S.A.), the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal (U.S.A.), the World Food Prize (U.S.A.), and the Nikkei Asia Prize (Japan); and more than 40 honorable titles, including honorary doctorates, from universities around the world.

Dr. Yunus aims to eradicate poverty using business methods. To this end, he runs more than 50 Grameen Family companies to solve various social issues in areas such as education, medical care, energy, and information communication. He develops and promotes social businesses in Bangladesh by stimulating local industries, spreading communications technologies, and using renewable energy. He also engages in social business on a daily basis in partnership with the United Nations, multinational corporations, and universities around the world.

The SBRC logo was created by a fortuitous encounter with an artist named Mr. Naoyuki Omine. He is a member of Kobo Maru, a welfare service office for people with disabilities, in Fukuoka City.

Kobo Maru is famous for nurturing artistic creativity. In 2011, we invited its member artists to produce wall paintings for Grameen Creative House (GCH) at Hakozaki Campus, Kyushu University. We explained the purpose and aim of the GCH, and asked for artistic paintings that would help stimulate the sensitivity of the people who gathered there. Out of the tens of pieces that were later submitted, Mr. Omine’s work caught the eye of the SBRC executive director. He suggested that Mr. Omine produce a painting around the theme "Yin-Yang and the five elements". Inspired by the advice, Mr. Omine created a new piece of work with the images of wood, fire, soil, gold and water, which was selected as the new wall painting at the GCH.

Then we requested Mr. Omine to produce an SBRC logo by arranging and adding more details to his original wall painting. On top of the tight one-month deadline, it was more difficult than expected for Mr. Omine to modify a once completed piece of work. At various points during the process, Mr. Omine was unable to make progress under pressure, and he was so worried that he could not eat. Despite this, he never rushed but persevered and continued to create the new design, searching for an image that would satisfy himself, and finally coming up with our current logo.