Professor Muhammad Yunus, winner of the nobel prize for peace 2006 and founder of the Grameen Bank, gave a very inspiring speech at the Social Business Conference in Lugano. The conference was held at the Università della Svizzera italiana last June 18th, organized by Social Business Earth. The speech and the following panel has been a great success, with a large media presence and crowded public.
Prof. Yunus provided vivid examples of social business through his extensive and amazing experience as serial social entreprenur. His words were always full of hoper and very encouraging for facing the current economic crisis. Yunus called the public to action, to stat a social business today, in Switzerland, to give job to 5 unemployed people: that would be a social business because it would solve a social problem. The climax of the speech was reached when Prof. Yunus explained his new philosophy for businesses: instead of being concerned with factories and businesses aimed at making money, we should have happines factories. And this is not rethoric: if we focus on solving problems, instead of making money, as entreprenurs we will make people happy. And this is far more fulfilling than cash: I have tried and I know it’s true and addictive. There is no biggest happiness than seeing your actions making other people happy, healthy and safe.
Through his work as founder of the grameen bank and numerous other social businesses, Yunus has demonstrated that it is possible to have a self-sustainable business with a social aim, and this organizational form is much better than a charity because the money invested can be used multiple times and make a bigger impact, while with charities money are used only once.
After depicting very inspirational examples of social business, he called us to action: “be a job giver, not a job seeker”
Sabrina Bresciani, Ph.D. 