Muhammad Yunus
Protecting the Banker to the Poor.
Known as the “Banker to the Poor”, Professor Muhammad Yunus is a Nobel Peace Prize Winner and founder of Grameen, the Bangladeshi microcredit bank, which provides loans to those in extreme poverty. After winning the Nobel Prize he was urged to enter politics – a suggestion he declined. Yet Grameen soon faced criticism and attacks from within Bangladesh, which threatened to tarnish Professor Yunus’s legacy.
Challenge Professor Yunus turned to BTP Advisers to defend his international reputation.
Work BTP’s strategy was threefold: (I) secure Yunus a series of international media interviews in the US and Europe so that he could defend himself in person; (II) gain public support from politicians, business leaders and celebrities; (III) secure global media coverage rebutting and deconstructing the attacks on Yunus.
"The ability of BTP Advisers to identify the crux of any issue and develop an appropriate strategy is remarkable" ~ Carl Buckley, Director, The International Forum for Democracy and Human Rights
Results Yunus garnered public support from the US Congressional Caucus on Bangladesh, the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Bangladesh, and the German Bundestag’s Friendship Group for South Asia. He was hosted by the US State Department, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and 10 Downing Street.
Media coverage was secured in, amongst others, The Times, The New York Times, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Spectator and The Wall Street Journal, with Yunus interviewed on Frost on Al-Jazeera, the BBC Today Programme, CNN, BBC World Service and PBS.
