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Yunus: social business will impact the world

The Nobel laureate speaks at AmCham meeting

Star Business Report
Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus yesterday said social business will grow and create a mark in the world in the days ahead.
To support the non-loss and nondividend firms, social business funds have already been created with some being in the process of formation.
Combined with a rise in awareness, the concept that business firms can be set up based on selflessness will help social business flourish, Yunus said.
The microcredit pioneer shared words of optimism at a luncheon meeting with businesspeople and senior executives, organised by American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in Dhaka.
' 'Social business will bring a lot of new activities,” said Yunus, who has been campaigning for social business to solve social problems.
Over the years, his social business concept that stems from the spirit of selflessness has created enthusiasm around the world -- a theory that breaks with the trend of profitmaximising in business.
The microcredit pioneer has formed ties with a number of renowned global firms such as Groupe Danone, Veolia, BASF, Intel, Uniqlo and Adidas in an effort to fight various social problems, including malnutrition of children and arsenic contamination in water.
Yunus said economic theories
have so far interpreted human beings as selfish, ignoring the spirit of selflessness among individuals.
To him, explaining humans from only selfishness perspective is a 'fundamental flaw' in the whole structure of economic theories that maintain that business is only for making money. "We have misinterpreted humans.”
"People are selfish; at the same time, they are selfless too. Theoreticians have never looked into that," he said.
This year, Social Business Day observed on June 28 pulled in representatives from 12 countries and created enthusiasm among participants.
The European Union has recently extended support to Yunus. An Asian Forum on Social Business will be organised in Japan, focusing on solving the problems of the people affected by a tsunami.
A global summit is also expected to take place in Vienna where United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is likely to be present.
His idea has also attracted some local entrepreneurs. Rokia Afzal Rahman, chairman of MIDAS Financing, who was present at the meet, said she considers forming a social business out of her desire to have a happy feeling.
Referring to Rokia Rahman's words, Yunus said the key word behind forming a social business is happiness.
"Money is not the only happiness. There is the other kind of happiness.
That's the whole key word what makes my life all about," said the Nobel laureate.
According to Yunus, ideas are at the heart of social business. And if anyone has got a creative idea, funds will not be a problem, he said, citing moves to form funds in various countries such as France and India to support social business to flourish.
"Money is waiting for you. There are funds.”
Yunus said social businesses do not need any special kind of environment such as tax exemption or green channel to help them spread.
What social business firms can get is the benefit that other conventional companies in the same sector are already getting, he added.
' 'This is against any incentive. The moment you give any incentive in any kind, then the fake people will get in it. So we don't want to do that,'' he said.
Differentiating social business from CSR (corporate social responsibility) practices, Yunus said social business is to solve social problems; the other relates to philanthropy.
Yunus said CSR came from laudable ideas but in course of time, it drifted away from the core concept because PR (public relations) people use it to build the image of the company, he said. Sponsorship is an example.
"What it (CSR) gives is the promotional money going back to the company," he said.