Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus, former Chief Adviser of Bangladesh’s interim government, has returned home following visits to France and Netherlands. After arriving in Bangladesh on Friday, he resumed work at his office in Mirpur, Dhaka, on Sunday, a press release said.
Professor Yunus departed Dhaka for Paris on 27 May and traveled to Amsterdam on 31 May. During the visit, he maintained a busy schedule, participating in a series of high-level meetings focused on cooperation in social business, agriculture, education, healthcare and the youth.
On the evening of his arrival in Paris, Professor Yunus attended a welcome dinner hosted by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation with Mr. Eric Vial, Chairman of the Crédit Agricole Group — one of Europe’s leading banking institutions with a longstanding commitment to sustainable finance and inclusive development.
He also attended the milestone 50th Board Meeting of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation (GCAF) at the Crédit Agricole Fédération. Jointly created in 2008 by the French banking giant Crédit Agricole S.A. and Professor Yunus, the Foundation acts as a prominent global investor, lender, and technical coordinator dedicated to fighting poverty through financial inclusion. By deploying over €82 million across roughly 40 emerging economies, its targeted microfinance programs empower more than 7 million vulnerable beneficiaries worldwide — with a deeply intentional focus on rural development (83%) and women’s economic empowerment (87%).
Professor Yunus also participated in a dialogue organized by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, moderated by Véronique Faujour, Secretary General of the Crédit Agricole Group. Among those present was Aurore Bergé, France’s Minister for Equality between Women and Men and the Fight against Discrimination. The forum brought together 150 leaders from the fields of financial inclusion and gender equality.
During the discussion, Minister Bergé praised the Foundation’s work, noting that more than 85 percent of its global lending portfolio has reached women. She remarked that inequality and discrimination remain major challenges in France and around the world, and that empowering young people — particularly women — is therefore more urgent than ever.
Professor Yunus shared insights from the historic Grameen Bank experience and recounted the critical lessons of the student-led July Uprising in Bangladesh — led by boys and women students from schools, colleges, and universities alike — highlighting how grassroots financial autonomy is essential to building resilient, just, and equal societies. He pointed out that the new generation of young women in Bangladesh is leading the way, and young men and women empowered with new technologies will bring enormous social, political and economic power to themselves and their communities.
On 29 May, Professor Yunus held an extensive meeting with the newly elected Mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire, at his office in the historic Paris city hall. The meeting focused on opportunities for advancing social business in France, particularly in Paris, and recognized the significant role played by former Mayor Anne Hidalgo in supporting the global social business movement.
Under Mayor Hidalgo’s leadership, a historic Parisian building was transformed into a hub for social business and social innovation known as Les Canaux. In 2017, Professor Yunus inaugurated Maison des Canaux in central Paris alongside the Mayor and France’s Minister for the Social Economy.
Professor Yunus and Mayor Grégoire also discussed the vision of creating a “Three Zeros World” and the establishment of youth-led Three Zero Clubs to advance this goal. Mayor Grégoire expressed strong interest in launching a “Social Business Day” in Paris and explored the possibility of expanding the initiative to cities around the world, eventually creating a global observance. To advance this initiative, Deputy Mayor for International Affairs Audrey Pulvar will participate in Social Business Day in Dhaka later this month, joined by Elisa Yavchitz, member of the Paris Council and former President of Les Canaux.
On 30 May in Amsterdam, Professor Yunus met with local government and NGO leaders from southern Italy, marking the launch of a new initiative to introduce the social business model in three cities in the region. The delegation included Rachele Furfaro, President of the FOQUS Foundation in Naples; Renato Quaglia, Director of the FOQUS Foundation; Enzo Cursio and Valerio Giambersio, Co-Founder and Executive Director respectively of the City of Peace for Children Basilicata Foundation; and the Honorable Gianfranco Miccichè, Member of the Sicilian Parliament and former Minister in the Berlusconi government.
The initiative will apply Professor Yunus’s social business principles to drive urban regeneration and sustainable local development in Naples, Potenza, and Palermo — targeting marginalized neighborhoods directly and creating concrete pathways out of social and economic exclusion for residents who have long been left behind.
“This Mediterranean-born initiative represents a new paradigm for addressing urban challenges through social innovation,” said Professor Yunus. The project is designed from the outset as a replicable model that other cities and regions can adapt and build upon. Implementation begins in September 2026, led by the Genera Consortium, which brings together the FOQUS Foundation, the City of Peace for Children Basilicata Foundation, Energaia SRL, and the Social Cooperative ‘Il Salone dei Rifiutati.’ Work will start in Potenza before expanding to Naples’ historic Quartieri Spagnoli and Palermo’s Ballarò district.
On 1 June, Professor Yunus served as the keynote speaker at “The Power of Postcodes,” addressing more than 850 participants at the Dutch Postcode Lottery’s premier international gathering. The Dutch Postcode Lottery is one of the country’s leading fundraising lotteries, supporting charitable organizations working in social, environmental, and humanitarian fields. Its annual flagship event brings together partners, policymakers, and civil society representatives to maximize collective impact.
In his keynote address, Professor Yunus said: “Our planet is a spaceship traveling through space. Those of us aboard behave like passengers, always trying to move from economy class to business class, from business class to first class, focused on making our own journey more comfortable. We forget that we are not passengers. We are the pilots. It is our job to steer the ship toward the best possible destination, and to build the flight plan that gets us there.”
He went on to share his vision of a Three Zeros world — zero poverty, zero net carbon emissions, and zero unemployment — and called for youth-led systemic change, drawing on Bangladesh as proof of what young people can achieve. The onstage conversation was moderated by Hajar Yakoubi, and the programme also featured keynote addresses by Sigrid van Aken, CEO of the PostCode Lottery Group, and Jonne Arnoldussen, Managing Director of the Dutch Postcode Lottery. The evening closed with a reception at Circa Amsterdam.
On 2 June, Professor Yunus held an informal exchange with senior officials from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs at The Hague. The delegation included Pascalle Grotenhuis, Director-General for International Cooperation; Dominique Kuhling, Director for Asia and Oceania; Amber Woortman from the Asia and Oceania Department; and Charlotte Bernhard and Inge Krijgsveld from the Sustainable Economic Development Department. The conversation covered Bangladesh’s current landscape and the status of microfinance and social business initiatives in the country. The officials sought Professor Yunus’s views on women’s and youth entrepreneurship and the potential for creating social business funds to invest in their enterprises.
Later that day, Professor Yunus was invited to the Dutch Parliament for a formal discussion with Members of Parliament on the global campaign for a Three Zeros World and the role of social business in achieving it. The discussion brought together MPs from both governing coalition and opposition parties, including Sanne Kroger of PRO, spokesperson on foreign trade, development cooperation, climate, and sustainable development; Mpanzu Bamenga of D66, advocate for equal opportunities, inclusion, and human rights; and Sarah Hamstra of the Christian Democratic Appeal. During the hour-long discussion, participants explored Professor Yunus’s Three Zeros framework, microcredit, social business, healthcare initiatives, and the creation of social business funds. They also discussed development cooperation and the importance of nurturing young entrepreneurs as a pathway to poverty eradication.
Among those accompanying Professor Yunus were Md. Ashraful Hassan, Chairman of the Grameen Group; Lamiya Morshed, Executive Director of the Yunus Centre; and Shazeeb M. Khairul Islam, Founder of YY Ventures.
