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Dear friends of social business, The year started busy with many important events coming up. We attended the World Economic Forum to discuss social business with world leaders, attended many conferences in Europe and Asia and GCL@NUS conducted the first event in 2012, the Social Business Week in Singapore. Please take your time to read the highlights of the past two months and don’t hesitate to contact us for any questions or ideas. Inside this month’s issue: - Report from the World Economic Forum 2012
- Prof. Yunus’ books got launched in Poland
- Great Enthusiam after India visit of Prof. Yunus and GCL team
- Social Business Week in Singapore 2012 was a great success
- Social Business Lab held with 1,2,3 Go in Luxembourg
- Social Business Lab coming up at EBS University in Wiesbaden, Germany
- Social Business community updates
- Interesting statement on microfinance: “Yunus was right”
- Save the date: Upcoming events in 2012
2012 has started with a lot of energy! We are looking forward to the upcoming projects and we will tell you more in our next issue.
Until then, we invite you 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
Report from the World Economic Forum 2012 - Prof. Yunus, the Grameen Creative Lab team and the Yunus Social Business team attended the World Economic Forum in January 2012 to discuss social business with world leaders.
- Prof. Yunus was the first person to introduce a new WEF format: “the 1-to-1 sessions”. While only 17 % of WEF participant’s were female, during Prof. Yunus’ session more than 80 % of the participants were women. Once again we can see that women are more sensitive to society’s problems and can be a driving force when it comes to social business.
- Another highlight was the session “The State of the World with Nobel Laureates” where we met with Nobel Laureates Prof. Joseph Stiglitz and Leymah Gbowee and discussed collaboration opportunities.
- Prof. Yunus was also on the closing panel discussion “The Future across Generations” with so called “global shapers”. You can watch the recorded sessions under “Highlights” on http://www.weforum.org/.
- We are very excited that all the business and political leaders we talked to were thrilled about the YY Millennium Tour.
- The press was all over Prof. Yunus asking about latest developments in social business. Here are some interviews with Schwab Foundation, Randi Zuckerberg and NDTV.
- Overall we had spent some very busy but successful days in Davos meeting many interesting people all over the world! YY
Prof. Yunus books got launched in Poland - “Banker to the poor” and “Building Social Business” got launched in Polish language at the beginning of February 2012.
- During his visit to Poland Prof. Yunus gave many inspiring speeches, met with President Bronislaw Komoroski and other political and business leaders to talk about social business.
- And of course he signed many of his books!
Great Enthusiam after India visit of Prof. Yunus and GCL team - Prof. Yunus had a very busy visit to India last month including speeches, meetings, conferences and several media interviews.
- His first stop was a speech to 1200 members of the Rotary International District Conference about his journey from microcredit to social business and his vision of a poverty museum in his lifetime.
- We met with a team from the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a senior representative from one of India's largest corporate groups. At this meeting, all parties signaled an intent to create a joint program for the development of social business in India. We are very excited about this development and will keep you updated through our newsletters.
- Later that evening, the Bombay Gymkhana hosted Prof Yunus for a speech to about 100 enthralled members and their guests, who included several prominent members of the social impact community in India.
- In the middle of all of this, Prof Yunus also found time to give some fantastic interviews to the Financial Times and the New York Times and do the big cover "corporate interview" for Fortune India. Unfortunately, Fortune India does not have an online version - however, the story released in their March edition and is out on newsstands across India now.
- The key event however, was a series of 2 roundtable conferences hosted for Prof Yunus by his old friend, Nishith Desai under the umbrella of the second edition of the India First Responsibility Forum. Prof Yunus, Nishith Desai and Hans Reitz addressed and engaged leaders from the business, investing and social impact communities in India in a lively and productive conversation.
- Prof Yunus closed his visit with a televised speech to students and young professionals at a wonderful event hosted by the E Cell at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. As a surprise guest, his friend and famous director Shekhar Kapur joined Hans Reitz and Prof Yunus on the podium for a moderated discussion about social business, microcredit and Shekhar's upcoming film about the imminent water crisis “Paani”. The speech ran way over time as Prof Yunus and Shekhar Kapur were overrun by questions from the young audience!
- UTV Bloomberg was media partner for this event and converted both the speech and an interview with Prof Yunus into a 1 hour special edition called "Business with a Heart." This was aired in India in February and the recordings can be accessed here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
Social Business Week in Singapore 2012 was a great success - GCL@NUS, a joint initiative with the National University of Singapore, organized the Social Business Week 2012 from the 20th to the 23rd of February in Singapore.
- The Social Business Week started with a two-day boot camp for social business entrepreneurs. More than 20 teams participated in order to refine their business models. On the second day each of the teams had to pitch their projects to a group of judges including Prof. Yunus and Hans Reitz.
- Other highlights included various speeches with Prof. Yunus, a public symposium for corporate leaders and two additional public lectures focusing on the role of youth and the role of governments and civil society
- You can find more information about the Social Business Week and the GCL@NUS on http://www.nusentrepreneurshipcentre.sg/initiatives/initiatives_article/social_business_week/about
- Press coverage: For Love or Money: Yunus on Social Business on http://newasiarepublic.com/?p=36330
Social Business Lab with 1,2,3 Go in Luxembourg - On February 15, the GCL conducted a Social Business Lab jointly organized with 1,2,3 Go in Luxembourg.
- 1,2,3 GO is organizing annual interregional business plan competitions, which support innovative projects in developing their business plans.
- The Social Business Lab imparted in depth knowledge about social business to mentors and judges of the 1,2,3 GO Business Plan Competition in order to integrate the concept of social business into their competition.
- More than 40 participants were actively discussing and developing own social business ideas.
Social Business Lab coming up at EBS University in Wiesbaden, Germany - GCL will hold a Social Business Lab on 14th of April at EBS University in Wiesbaden, Germany. Everyone is invited to join!
- The Lab is a great opportunity to see how the social business concept works and succeeds in projects of GCL around the world. You will contribute your creativity to brainstorm and develop solutions together with the GCL team and other participants for the most pressing social needs. You will meet aspiring and upcoming social business entrepreneurs and initiatives and become part of the social business movement.
- To register use the following link: http://tinyurl.com/74jwzdl
- You can find more information about the Social Business Lab on our website.
Social Business community updates
Interesting statement on microfinance: “Yunus was right” - Vikram Akula, the founder of SKS Microfinance, the for-profit company that is accused of aggressive collection tactics, made an unexpected statement at the Social Enterprise Conference at Harvard University: “ Prof. Yunus was right (…) bringing private capital into social enterprise was much harder than I anticipated.” Read the full statement here: http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/27/yunus-was-right-sks-microfinance-founder-says/?scp=1&sq=yunus&st=cse
- The microfinance industry in India came under scrutiny in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh in 2010 after reports were made public that 200 borrowers had committed suicide after being unable to repay microfinance loans.
- SKS Microfinance, which was started in 1997 as a nonprofit organization offering microcredit, eventually turned in a for-profit direction and made a stock offering in 2010
- Already back in January 2011, Prof. Yunus had written in an op-ed for The New York Times “I never imagined that one day microcredit would give rise to its own breed of loan sharks. But it has. And as a result, many borrowers in India have been defaulting on their microloans (…) India’s crisis points to a clear need to get microcredit back on track.”
- Prof. Yunus is a frequent critic of the various organizations that tried to turn microfinance into a for-profit industry. You can find a recent interview by Yunus Microcredit Was Misused to Make Money From the Poor on http://www.cnbc.com/id/46598228
Save the date: Upcoming events in 2012 Please save the date in your calendars for the following exciting upcoming events in 2012: - Social Business Lab at EBS University in Germany // 14th April 2012: We invite you to our first open Social Business Lab in 2012 at EBS University in Wiesbaden. Everyone is welcome to join!
- Social Business Lab at ESPM in Brazil// 23rd and 24th of April 2012: We invite you to a Social Business Lab at the ESPM in Sao Paulo
- Worldwide Social Business Day 2012// 28th June 2012: Social Business Day will be celebrated again in Dhaka, Bangladesh and virtually all over the world.
- Social Business Forum Asia 2012 // 20th – 22nd July 2012: The second SBFA will be organized by Kyushu University and will take place again in Fukuoka, Japan. Additonal events in Tokyo will take place from 23rd - 25th July.
- Academia Meeting 2012 // 07th of November 2012: Please save the date for the second Social Business Academia Meeting 2012, taking place one day prior to the GSBS.
- 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! More information at www.gsbs2012.com.
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