Short Presentation of Social Business, Professor Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Creative Lab

The model of Social Business

Social Business -­ Businesses that simply do goodss.

Professor Muhammad Yunus

Business rethought and done another way: if entrepreneurial undertakings do not seek maximum profits but rather maximum benefit for people then one is speaking of social business innovative business models that are consistently focused on findingsolutions to social problems. In short: businesses that simply do good.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus developed the social business idea and elucidated his concept by summarizing it through a presentation of seven basic principles.:

1. Business objective will be to overcome poverty, or one or more problems (such as education, health, technology access, andenvironment) which threaten people and society;; not profit maximization2. Financial and economic sustainability3. Investors get back their investment amount only. No dividend is given beyond investment money4. When investment amount is paid back, company profit stays with the company for expansion and improvement5. Environmentally conscious 6. Workforce gets market wage with better working conditions

The model of Social Business

His concept is not the product of drab theory but rather of life experience. Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, which was founded byProf. Yunus, provided the poor with a new outlook on life by giving them small loans on fair conditions. It is properly referred to

social businesses: financially independent, economically sustainable, and successful in pursuing its social purposeA success story that started with $27The story begins: a bank for the poorThe success story of social business in our times began with a truly insignificant amount of money equivalent to only $27. In the middle of the 1970s Prof. Muhammad Yunus loaned this amount to 42 basket weavers in the village of Jobra in Bangladesh, in order to free them from the local loan sharks and to enable them to establish an independent economic existence. Prof. Yunus, who had studied in the United States and had received his doctorate there, had just returned to the newly founded and profoundly impoverished Bangladesh. He recognized that the theories he was teaching in his role as an economics professor did not provide a solution that would relieve people from their misery and therefore looked for more practical solutions.The successful business model of the Grameen Bankthoughtfully provided as a way for people to help themselves could transform the lives of poor people, indeed the life of an entire village. The Grameen Bank provides micro-­credits to the poor and the poorest in order to aid them in establishing an independent business sufficient to provide a means of subsistence micro-­credits that are offered at fair conditions without the requirements of collaterals or a guarantor.Today more than 8 million customers in around 80,000 villages of Bangladesh are benefitting from this business model. Still more have been helped worldwide as the Grameen Bank has served as a paradigm for many micro-­finance initiatives on almost all continents. In doing so the Grameen Bank has never been and is not a social welfare organization. Instead, it is a profitable business a socially conscious business though that seeks to provide the most benefit for the disadvantaged rather than maximizing profits. Surpluses are used for social purposes. Through these activities the Grameen Bank has become a prototype for a truly new type of business the prototype of social business.

The model of Social Business

Now companies found social businesses The story continues: Social businesses

It is the children of Bangladesh who frequently suffer from serious vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Grameen Danone Foods Ltd., a social business joint venture of Danone and Grameen in Bogra/Bangladesh, has provided effective assistance: It produces and distributes yoghurt enriched with vitamin A, zinc, and iodine a mixture that exactly meets the nourishment needs of the children. Moreover, at a price that approximates 6 Eurocent per cup, it is affordable for the poor and even the poorest.

industry, production, new regional jobs;; in distribution, where it has made it possible for the so-­

within the next 10 years. As a result several hundred livestock farming and distribution jobs will be created in the local community.You will find further information about Grameen Danone on the following web pages of the Danone Group:www.danone.com/en/what-­s-­new/focus-­4.html

From banker of the poor to leading thinker of social business

Professor Muhammad Yunus is both founder and CEO of Grameen Bank, which currently has almost 2,500 branches providing credit to more than 8 million poor people in more than 80,000 villages in Bangladesh. He developed the concept which is at the core of Grameen Bank: banking without collateral for the poorest of the poor. This business model also became the paradigm for numerous microfinance initiatives

social business concept solving social problems with entrepreneurial initiative and innovative business structures, but not distributing any dividends. Prof. Yunus and the Grameen Bank were together awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.Muhammad Yunus studied economics in the USA at Vanderbilt

University and earned his doctorate in this discipline there in 1970. From 1969 to 1972 he taught economics at Middle Tennessee University. After he returned to Bangladesh in 1972 he accepted an appointment as professor and head of the department of Economics at the University of Chittagong. In 1976 he began his Grameen Bank project, that was transformed into a formal bank in 1983.

Professor Muhammad Yunus

Muhammad Yunus was born on 28 June 1940 in the village of Bathua in Hathazari, Chittagong, which at the time was the business centre of East Bengal. He was the third of fourteen children, five of whom had already died at an early age. His father was a successful goldsmith, who always encouraged his sons to further their education. His mother, Sufia Khatun, had the greatest influence on him. She always helped the poor when they knocked on her door. This inspired Yunus at an early age to commit himself to the elimination of poverty.

Prof. Muhammad Yunus is married to Afroji Yunus, a professor of physics at Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka. He has two daughters, Monica and Dina. In addition to the Nobel Peace Prize he has received many other awards, most recently the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009, one of the most recognised civilian awards in the USA.

Professor Muhammad Yunus

A Project by Dialogue Social EnterpriseDiscovering the world of blind people led by blind people

Dialogue Social Enterprise GmbH (DSE), a social business company, pursues two main objectives: Job creation for blind people and change of mindsets towards otherness in the broader public. These goals were accomplished by the development of the exhibition Dialogue in the Dark (www.dialogue-­in-­thedark.com).

Dialogue in the Dark takes place in complete darkness and impacts all visitors regardless of age, culture, education or gender. Blind people act as tour guides and lead the visitors in small groups through every day environment in pitch-­dark rooms. A reversal of roles take place: the blind people become sighted in the dark, because they understand out of their day-­to-­day routines, how to cope with no sight.

On the other side, the sighted visitors are confronted with the sudden withdrawal of a key sense sight and have to perform in a complete unpredictable environment. Dialogue in the Dark allows to explore accessibility, human non-­visual awareness, the art of communication, diversity, empowerment and work opportunities. Dialogue enriches our understanding about me, about you, about us and about others. No less than 6.000 blind people found work and recognition and changed the perspectives of more than 6 Million people in 30 countries in the last 20 years.

Best practices

To utilize this concept for the business world, DSE developed a series of business workshops. The workshops activities provide an innovative and powerful tool for human resource development, improving social skills and emotional intelligence. Facilitated by blind trainers, these workshops are aimed at senior managers and business leaders to challenge the way they think and act in unfamiliar territory, change processes or crises. Participants improve their ability to communicate and develop greater empathy and sensitivity to the needs of others. Some of the notable events where the Dialogue workshops have provided a unique learning experience include the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Best practices

in Bangladesh: Yoghurt against malnutrition

Children in Bangladesh suffer particularly frequently from a serious lack of vitamins and minerals. Grameen Danone Foods Ltd., a Social Business joint venture between Danone and Grameen in Bogra/Bangladesh, is creating an effective

enriched with vitamin A, zinc and iodine, which is precisely tailored to the nutritional requirements of children and is alsoaffordable for the poor and poorest, at a price equivalent to 6 euro cent per pot. The effects that regular consumption of

with GAIN (Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition).

Grameen Danone Foods Ltd. was founded in 2006. The factory in Bogra, around 250 kilometers north of the capital city, Dhaka, started production at the beginning of 2007 and now manufactures 12,000 portions of yoghurt per day, with around 50 employees. The company still intends to reach the profit zone during 2010. Additional production plants are being planned, by 2016, the intention is for 50 factories to be distributed throughout Bangladesh. The necessary investments for

Danone employees and shareholder participate in, but people all over the world can also participate with a corresponding contribution.

Grameen Danone is committed to the social purpose of the company along the entire value-­added chain: in purchasing, which benefits the local dairy farmers;; in production, which creates regional jobs;; in sales, which enables the so-­called

Best practices

The Grameen Creative Lab (GCL) is part of the Grameen family of businesses;; a joint venture between the Yunus Centre and circ responsibility, founded by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus and Hans Reitz, founder and creative director of circ. Their shared vision is the eradication of poverty globally. The GCL is designed to eradicate poverty in the world by accelerating the Grameen Social Business movement. To do so the GCL connects with an international network of talented and dedicated young professionals, entrepreneurs, companies, NGOs, governments, universities and others. The work of the GCL is divided into three pillars: Interact, Incubate, Create.

Interact: "Awareness"

Incubate: "Understanding"

The Grameen Creative Lab

Create: "Impact"

worldwide

The Grameen Creative Lab is a Grameen Social Business in itself that works according to

products and services within each pillar. Any profits will be reinvested into furtheraccelerating Grameen Social Business and sharing Grameen's and Prof. Yunus' conceptsand ideas with companies, universities, NGOs, students, investors and more. The GCLhas been registered as a legal entity in Germany since 2009.

www.grameencreativelab.com

The Grameen Creative Lab

Books:Yunus, M. (2010). Building Social Business: Capitalism That Can Serve Humanity's Most Pressing Needs. Public Affairs.In this book, Prof. Yunus traces the development of the social business idea;; explains its lessons for entrepreneurs, social activists, and policy makers;; offers practical guidance for those who want to create social businesses of their own;; and, shows why social business holds the potential to redeem the failed promise of free enterprise.Yunus, M. (2007). Creating a World without Poverty Social Business and the Future of Capitalism. Public Affairs.The book thoroughly explains the social business concept and contains several examples of real-­life social businesses. Visionary and practical at the same time, it is a must read for social entrepreneurs in general, and those interested in microfinance in particular. Yunus, M. (2003). Banker To The Poor: Micro-­Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty. Public Affairs.

Video links:5 minute introduction to Social Business: http://www.grameencreativelab.com/downloads/video/prof-­yunus-­danone-­and-­veolia-­joint-­ventures.htmlGrameen Joint Venture with Danone: http://www.grameencreativelab.com/downloads/video/grameen-­social-­business-­joint-­venture-­with-­danone.html

Further Resources