Yunus to star in The Simpsons

The founding father of microfinance, Muhammad Yunus, is to appear in cult cartoon The Simpsons.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Yunus, who founded the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh more than 30 years ago, will join the troublesome all-American family in an episode to be screened in the US in October.

The 70-year-old has already recorded the voiceover for his role in Dahka, Bangladesh. One of the programme’s stars, Yeardley Smith, voice of Lisa, is currently in the country to learn more about Grameen’s work and is a ‘long-time admirer of Yunus’, according to Grameen. She has also visited Haiti to boost support for microcredit schemes.

Grammen Bank lends small amounts of money to people, mainly women, to help them set up businesses and lift themselves out of poverty. It has been such a success that Grameen Bank can now be found all over the world including India, America and soon in Scotland, and lends to 8.3 million people in Bangladesh alone.

Grameen spokesperson Lamya Morshed said The Simpsons episode would focus on Grameen microcredit.

The Simpsons holds the Guinness World Record for the number of guest stars it has featured, which has included former prime minister Tony Blair and scientist Steven Hawking.