MOU with Japanese Restaurant Chain Watami
Japan's leading food and beverage brand Watami Group has signed a joint venture agreement today with the Yunus Centre for establishing a social business in the restaurant sector. The joint venture aims to produce quality food through its restaurants in Bangladesh. Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, Chairman of Yunus Centre and Mr. Miki Watanabe, CEO of Watami Group, signed the agreement during a ceremony at Yunus Centre today.
The Japanese company will provide training and management skills to produce quality dishes at affordable prices. The objective of this social business joint venture is to create jobs, provide healthy food, promote local cuisine and training for food service professionals. The joint venture aims to spread the business in the rural parts of Bangladesh as well and also training schools for young people to become professional chefs for both domestic and international employment. As a social business, neither Watami Group nor Yunus Centre will be receiving any profit from this joint- venture.
Following the MOU signing, Yunus Centre inaugurated the first Distinguished Speaker Series, with Mr. Miki Watanabe on stage to discuss best practices and innovative ideas about social business and its application to solve social problems in Bangladesh. Professor Yunus in his closing remarks thanked Watanabe for having the courage to come to Bangladesh and start a social business.
The Yunus Centre is the global hub for all social businesses around the world, including microcredit, health care services and environment. Watami Group is the top food & beverage brand in Japan. The company has grown into 600 restaurants in Japan and 30 other outlets overseas in a short span of 25 years (website: www.watami.com.sg/).
