Professor yunus to spend prize money on pro-poor projects

Dhaka, Oct 14 (UNI) Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus would spend the prize money of 1.07 million dollar on pro-poor projects already initiated under his new concept styled Social Business Enterprise (SBE).

Talking to newspersons at his Grameen Bank office, he said there is a big discussion on this concept of SBE where profits made by any enterprise will not be taken away by the owners rather saved in the company coffers for its further expansion.

World soccer superstar Zinedine Zidane, who piloted France to the final of FIFA World Cup '06, will come to Bangladesh on November 7 to jointly inaugurate the Grameen-Danone Foods Ltd in northern Bogra.

The first factory of Grameen-Danone Foods company has been set up in Bogra. The company will produce 'energy yogurt' to fulfil the shortage of growth of Bangladeshi babies. If the 'energy yogurt' gets market here, the Grameen-Danone Foods will establish 50 manufacturing companies in the country to produce yogurt.

Further unveiling his plan, Professor Yunus--now strewn with panegyrics from home and abroad--said he is setting up two eye hospitals in Bogra and southern Barisal.

The hospitals that will complete in next one year will treat both the rich and the poor patients. But the rich patients will have to pay higher charge so the money could be spent for treating the poor.

The higher charge, he said, would be of course less than charged in other hospitals.

In reply to a question, he said the process of alleviating poverty has already started and it would be possible to alleviate it not only in Bangladesh but also across the world.

''In Bangladesh, it would be possible to halve the level of poverty by 2015,'' he said, adding that the remaining half could be removed by 2030.

Cutting poverty to half by year 2015 is one of the UN-designated goals laid down in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and poverty-reduction strategy paper (PRSP) is the weapon meant for winning this fight against poverty.

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