Professor Yunus calls for building a new civilization through social business
Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus visited Brussels on November 18, 2011 at the invitation of the European Commission to give a keynote speech at their event "Promoting Social Business in Europe". Professor Yunus delivered the keynote speech at the opening session titled "How to make Social Business for social innovation?" This was followed by a panel discussion. Panelist at the session were László Andor, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion, Staffan Nilsson, Chairman of the European Economic & Social Committee, Marc Tarabella, European Parliament, Sergio Arzeni, Director of OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, Jean-Daniel Muller, Director General of Groupe associatif Siel Bleu (FR).
During this opening session Professor Yunus highlighted the failure of the present civilization to solve problems of poverty, unemployment, degradation of environment, healthcare. He called for creating the foundation of a new human civilization to build a world without these failures that can be led through social business. He proposed to give the leadership of this initiative to the young people.
José Manuel Durão Barroso, President of the European Commission stated that social business could be indeed a very powerful agenda for change, to deliver better outcomes for the common good. José Manuel Barroso underlined that action at EU level could be an accelerator for social business, by raising awareness of this sector and its huge potential. He added that social businesses could grow and become the dynamic part of the European social economy, which represented millions of employees.
Michel Barnier, European Commissioner for Internal Market & Services, who gave the opening remarks at the event, thanked Professor Yunus for his keynote speech. "Social business is one of the pockets of untapped potential in our Single Market " said Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier. "Social business is a good example of an approach to business that is both responsible and contributes to growth and jobs. But we need to ensure all companies, not just social businesses, take their impact on wider society seriously".
