Yunus sings for social business: Calls for creating a different world

Yunus sings for social business

Calls for creating a different world

Staff Correspondent

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has called for establishing social business as a problem solver, not profit maximiser, to tackle global poverty and social injustice.

"If we had created another kind of business on the basis of selflessness, we could have created a different kind of world," said Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank, yesterday.

He was giving a lecture on "Creating a world without poverty -- social business bridging the gap" at the inaugural session of a three-day international conference.

Yunus said selfishness is at the heart of business that has created a string of socio-economic problems across the globe.

North South University, US-based Knowledge Globalization Institute and Suffolk University jointly organised the conference on knowledge globalisation on the NSU campus in the capital.

"Poverty is not a question of money, it is a question of structure," Yunus said.

He said poverty is not created by the poor: it is the result of mistakes done by someone else and is imposed on them.

The trend of maximising profit led to many problems such as food and oil crises, and the recent financial meltdown, said the microcredit pioneer.

Social business practised by Grameen Bank is getting popular in countries like the USA where banks were on the verge of collapse during the global financial crisis, Yunus said.

The model of traditional banking is wrong because it denies service to the poor and women, who need it the most, according to Yunus, known as the banker to the poor.

"I started going to the poor and women as a protest to traditional banking."

The collateral-free banking of Grameen Bank is inclusive and the loan recovery rate is nearly 100 percent, said Yunus, the managing director of the bank.

One of Grameen Bank's 16 mandates is to make sure that all children of its member families go to school, he said.

About 52,000 students of Grameen families are now studying in universities and medical colleges although their parents are illiterate.

Grameen Danone Foods Ltd produces and sells nutrition-rich yoghurt to the poor at a cheap price. Similar ventures under Grameen Group do not take interests.

"People criticise me, but I think that is the only way I can solve problems. You create a company to solve problems, not to own," he said.

Yunus said humans are not "moneymaking machines or robots". "They are also selfless." If social business coexists with traditional business, most problems could be solved easily, he said.

Crisis brings an opportunity to redesign the whole system to make it inclusive and allow all to play their roles instead of keeping them dependent on government, he said.

MA Kashem, chairman of NSU Board of Governors, said the exchange of knowledge could help build a knowledge-based society for a better world.

About 130 research papers on science, business, natural resources and society will be presented at the conference with participation of academics from 20 countries.

NSU Vice Chancellor Hafiz GA Siddiqi, Suffolk University Vice President Janice Griffith, Knowledge Globalization Institute President Mawdudur Rahman, its Vice President Dr Nargis Mahmud and Prof Dr Abdul Hannan Chowdhury of NSU also spoke.

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