| |  Dear friends of social business, 2011 has been an eventful year. Looking on the outcomes of our activities over the last year, we are proud of what we have achieved in turning the world a bit more social. We cordially want to thank you for all your support in making 2011 a phenomenal year for social business! Please take your time to enjoy the review of 2011 to get an overview of the recent activities of The Grameen Creative Lab. Don’t hesitate to contact us for any questions or ideas. Inside this month’s issue: - Social Business Highlights of 2011
- Current situation in Bangladesh and update on Grameen Bank
- Looking ahead: The YY Millennium Tour
- Grameen Caldas social business fund is ready to invest
- Social Business Week in Singapore 2012
- Save the date: Upcoming events in 2012
2012 is going to be an exciting year for social business. We are eagerly looking forward to start rocking our social business projects and we look forward to tell you more in our next issue.
Until then, we invite you to save the date for upcoming events in 2012 and to get involved in our projects by contacting: Mr. Hans Reitz (MD and Co-Founder) hans.reitz@grameencl.com
We look forward to working together with you! YY and do it with joy! The Grameen Creative Lab
Social Business Highlights of 2011 - The Global Social Business Summit 2011 was a huge success gathering 520 participants from 57 nations in Vienna, Austria. Global players like the NASA astronaut Ron Garan became a Social Business Ambassador.
- As part of the UN Millennium Development Goals Advocacy Action Group of General-Secretary Ban Ki-moon, Prof. Yunus and the Grameen Creative Lab will execute the YY Millennium Tour. This tour aims to engage young people globally and to motivate them achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals in their countries through social business.
- Social business got pushed immensely on the European level by an EU Commission’s initiative to develop and financially support social business in Europe. In November 2011, results were presented to Head of States and leading European personalities.
- In Germany we celebrated 1 year Social Business City Wiesbaden and initiated the German Social Business Forum with events in Mönchengladbach and Wiesbaden. Relevant stakeholders from politics, economy and civil society came together to discuss frameworks for social business in Germany. The forum proudly presented first success stories from the Social Business City Wiesbaden: for example Social Business Women who are providing enterprise-credits to women and won the McKinsey Diversity Award 2011. Following the example of Wiesbaden, the city of Fukuoka in Japan became the second Social Business City in 2011.
- The German Federal Minister for Family Affairs Dr. Kristina Schröder and KfW Group presented a new instrument to finance social businesses. The program will start on 12 January 2012 and is targeted for social businesses, which have made their first success steps and want to expand.
- We are happy that GCL’s international projects made further progress. YY Haiti became an independent legal entity and in Caldas, Colombia we were able to establish four social businesses successfully despite tight political and administrative circumstances.
- Academia is going straight forward: 1) GCL@NUS was founded at the National University Singapore. 2) the Yunus & Shiiki Social Business Research Center was founded at Kyushu University and 3 The Grameen Creative Lab gave a lecture series of 40 hours at HULT International Business School for Master students of Social Entrepreneurship 4) The first 6 students graduated in a Master in Design for Social Business from IED, and 5) Prof. Yunus received and honorary doctoral degree in economics from London School of Economics. He was the 20th person to receive such a degree.
- Yunus Social Business, a new company to consult international social business projects was created and is run by former GCL staff members.
- The Social Business Tour 2010 was awarded several times this year! Several dozens of social businesses were initiated in Europe through the tour. YY Power!
Current situation in Bangladesh and update on Grameen Bank - After Prof. Yunus resignation as Managing Director of Grameen Bank in May 2011, the government still hasn’t created a selection committee for a new MD
- The chairman of Grameen Bank has a non-executive role and is appointed by the Bangladeshi government. However, he has now taken on a more executive role and moved into Grameen Bank tower.
- Moreover, the government has released a report intending to bring all Grameen sister companies under Grameen Bank’s supervision and started to take actions particularly on Grameen Telecom.
- We are highly concerned about those developments and want to raise awareness that the independence of Grameen Bank and other independent social businesses are still endangered by the Bangladeshi government.
- Nevertheless, Prof. Yunus continuously focuses on the promotion of social business.
Looking ahead: The YY Millennium Tour - As part of the UN Millennium Development Goals Advocacy Action Plan of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, GCL and the United Nations officially launched the YY Millennium Tour at the Global Social Business Summit 2011.
- The Tour aims at accelerating the achievement of the UN MDGs by 2015 through social business and focuses on young people in countries in danger of achieving the MDGs by 2015.
- Prof. Yunus and the GCL team will be at the World Economic Forum 2012 in Davos, Switzerland end of January to present the concept. Please stay tuned for the outcome!
- We are looking for partners and sponsors of any kind for the Tour! Please write to Christina.Jaeger@grameencl.com,if you want to get involved!
Grameen Caldas social business fund is ready to invest - The team of Grameen Caldas managed to establish good contacts to the new government of Caldas.
- 100.000 USD has been paid into the Social Business Fund and is ready to be invested. We are now in the process of screening social business opportunities for investment to generate an impactful social business environment!
Social Business Week in Singapore 2012 - The GCL@NUS, a joint initiative with the National University of Singapore, is organizing the first Social Business Week in Singapore in 2012 from the 20th to the 23rd of February.
- The Social Business Week will start with a two-day Boot Camp for Social Business Entrepreneurs
- Other highlights include various speeches with Prof. Yunus. A Public Symposium for Corporate Leaders will take place on the 22nd, and two additional Public Lectures focusing on the role of youth and the role of Governments and civil society will take place on the 23rd
- You will find more information about the Social Business Week and the GCL@NUS on http://www.nusentrepreneurshipcentre.sg/initiatives/initiatives_article/social_business_week/about
Save the date: Upcoming events in 2012 Please save the date in your calendars for the following exciting upcoming events in 2012: - Social Business Week Singapore // 20th - 23rd of February 2012: GCL@National University of Singapore is hosting the Social Business Week 2012 together with Prof. Yunus
- Social Business Lab Wiesbaden// 3rd March 2012: We invite you to our first open social business lab in 2012. Check the next newsletter edition for more information!
- 4th International Klassentreffen in Wiesbaden // 12th – 13th of May 2012: It is time again for the annual gathering of GCL alumni, social business entrepreneurs and friends.
- Worldwide Social Business Day 2012// 28th June 2012: Social Business Day will be celebrated again in Dhaka, Bangladesh and virtually all over the world.
- Global Social Business Summit 2012 // 08th - 10th of November 2012: Please save the date for the 4th Global Social Business Summit, which will be held in Vienna again!
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