Yunus, Muhammad - Creating A World Without Poverty; Social Busin...

Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism By Muhammad Yunus Publisher: PublicAffairs Number Of Pages: 296 Publication Date: 2008-01-07 ISBN-10 / ASIN: 1586484931 ISBN-13 / EAN: 9781586484934 The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize outlines his vision for a new business model that combines the power of free markets with the quest for a more humane world—and tells the inspiring stories of companies that are doing this work today. In the last two decades, free markets have swept the globe, bringing with them enormous potential for positive change. But traditional capitalism cannot solve problems like inequality and poverty, because it is hampered by a narrow view of human nature in which people are one-dimensional beings concerned only with profit. In fact, human beings have many other drives and passions, including the spiritual, the social, and the altruistic. Welcome to the world of social business, where the creative vision of the entrepreneur is applied to today's most serious problems: feeding the poor, housing the homeless, healing the sick, and protecting the planet. Creating a World Without Poverty tells the stories of some of the earliest examples of social businesses, including Yunus's own Grameen Bank. It reveals the next phase in a hopeful economic and social revolution that is already under way—and in the worldwide effort to eliminate poverty by unleashing the productive energy of every human being. From Inside Flap What if you could harness the power of the free market to solve the problems of poverty, hunger, and inequality? To some, it sounds impossible. But Nobel Peace Prizewinner Muhammad Yunus is doing exactly that. As founder of Grameen Bank, Yunus pioneered microcredit, the innovative banking program that provides poor people—mainly women—with small loans they use to launch businesses and lift their families out of poverty. In the past thirty years, microcredit has spread to every continent and benefited over 100 million families. But Yunus remained unsatisfied. Much more could be done, he believed, if the dynamics of capitalism could be applied to humanity's greatest challenges. Now, in Creating a World Without Poverty, Yunus goes beyond microcredit to pioneer the idea of social business—a completely new way to use the creative vibrancy of business to tackle social problems from poverty and pollution to inadequate health care and lack of education. This book describes how Yunus—in partnership with some of the world's most visionary business leaders—has launched the world's first purposely designed social businesses. From collaborating with Danone to produce affordable, nutritious yogurt for malnourished children in Bangladesh to building eyecare hospitals that will save thousands of poor people from blindness, Creating a World Without Poverty offers a glimpse of the amazing future Yunus forecasts for a planet transformed by thousands of social businesses. Yunus's "Next Big Idea" offers a pioneering model for nothing less than a new, more humane form of capitalism. From Publishers Weekly Economics professor Yunus claims he originally became involved in the poverty issue not as a policy-maker, scholar, or researcher, but because poverty was all around me. With these words he stopped teaching elegant theories and began lending small amounts of money, $40 or less, without collateral, to the poorest women in the world. Thirty-three years later, the Grameen Bank has helped seven million people live better lives building businesses to serve the poor. The bank is solidly profitable, with a 98.6% repayment rate. It inspired the micro-credit movement, which has helped 100 million of the poorest people in the world escape poverty and earned Yunus (Banker to the Poor) a Nobel Peace prize. This volume efficiently recounts the story of microcredit, then discusses Social Business, organizations designed to help people while turning profits. French food giant Danone's partnership to market yogurt in Bangladesh is described in detail, along with 25 other businesses that operate under the Grameen banner. Infused with entrepreneurial spirit and the excitement of a worthy challenge, this book is the opposite of pessimistic recitals of intractable poverty's horrors. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents Prologue: Starting With A Handshake Photos Part I: The Promise Of Social Business 1 A New Kind of Business Is Government the Answer? The Contribution of Nonprofit Organizations Multilateral Institutions—The Development Elite Corporate Social Responsibility Capitalism Is a Half-Developed Structure Note 2 Social Business: What It Is and What It Is Not Social Business Profits Stay within the Business Broadening the Landscape of Business Two Kinds of Social Businesses The Difference between Social Business and Social Entrepreneurship What about a "Hybrid"? Past Attempts to Combine Social Goals with Traditional Business Where Will Social Businesses Come From? Human Beings Are Multi-Dimensional Part II: The Grameen Experiment 3 The Microcredit Revolution The Birth of a "Banker to the Poor" A Shift in Thinking More Economic Blind Spots The Evolution of Grameen Bank The Evolving Grameen System From Grameen I to Grameen II: A More Flexible, Responsive System Microcredit around the World The Return of the Moneylenders Problems with Funding Microcredit Mainstream Banks and Microcredit Credit: The Vital Foundation Note 4 From Microcredit to Social Business The Grameen Family of Companies Spreading the Word about Microcredit: Grameen Trust Revitalizing an Age-Old Craft: Grameen Uddog and Grameen Shamogree Promoting Entrepreneurship: Grameen Fund and Grameen Byabosa Bikash Improving Rural Livelihoods: Grameen Fisheries and Livestock Opening Opportunities for Young Minds: Grameen Shikkha Linking Every Village to the World: Grameen Telecom and Grameen Phone Renewable Energy for Rural Bangladesh: Grameen Shakti Bringing Health Care to the Poor: Grameen Kalyan and Grameen Health Care Services Social Business: A New Economic Frontier 5 The Battle against Poverty: Bangladesh and Beyond Poverty Programs That Work Credit Comes First Charity Is Not Always the Answer Bangladesh and the Developed World Toward Regional Peace and Prosperity Bangladesh and Its Giant Neighbors Bangladesh's Strategic Location The Mega-Port Can Be a Social Business 6 God Is in the Details The First Planning Meeting Fortified Yogurt for Children In Search of Answers A New Venture Takes Shape New Ways of Thinking: In Production and Distribution Finding the Winning Formula The Official Launch 7 One Cup of Yogurt at a Time A Sports Super-Hero Kick-Starts the Business A Win for the Company, a Win for the Poor Edible Cups? Bringing Meaning to Business Life Part III: A World Without Poverty 8 Broadening the Marketplace Who Will Invest in Social Business? Financing Grameen Danone New Yardsticks for Evaluating Business Tax and Regulatory Issues Social Business and a World Transformed More Than a Fantasy 9 Information Technology, Globalization, and a Transformed World The Power of IT to Help the Poor Tailoring Technology to the Needs of the Poor Social Business and the IT Revolution The IT Revolution and Democracy 10 Hazards of Prosperity Economic Inequality and the Struggle over Global Resources Spreading the Wealth and the Growth Dilemma The Logic of Uncontrolled Growth How Much Consumption? Making Space for a New Set of Voices Solving the Growth Dilemma Notes 11 Putting Poverty in Museums A Better World Starts with Imagination Practical Steps toward the Dream-World of the Future New Frontiers for Foundations An End to Poverty Epilogue: "Poverty Is a Threat to Peace"—The Nobel Prize Lecture For Further Information Index About the Author About the Publisher -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Summary: The Right Way Rating: 5 Empirical evidence that just throwing money at a social problem isn't the best solution. Micro-financing is an amazing concept. Great book. Summary: Future of Social Capitalism Rating: 5 I agree with everything that the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. Muhammad Yunus wrote about in creating a global economy based on social capitalism for developing economies. Although I am not an expert in economics; I just want to add to this based on my common sense approach on the present financial crisis, which has developed after his book Creating a World Without Poverty was written. Both governments and people have failed to grasp the extent of the financial crisis. The examples of the financial crisis are just symptoms of a decayed economic system; some of the most problematic sectors have not even come to the surface yet. The U.S. Government would have been best served by letting the old system collapse, and should not have bailed out the big investment banks. Rather, the government should have helped the people who were most desperate. The bailout was a reward for failure, in favor of the privileged and advantaged. It was the taxpayers and disadvantaged ones paying the price and assuming the risk. This is the perfect time for starting a new economic model, based on social capitalism, which values humanity. The bailouts and stimulus packages are a short-term solution that does not really attempt to solve the overreaching problem. It is going to be slow and painful economic recovery. Nothing is wrong with tax increases for the rich and cutting unnecessary government and public spending. In a time of crisis, the very rich should be the part of the solution. Some things to keep in mind as this global integration takes place, is that there should be separate international banks for the global economy; commercial banks for the wealthy and corporations, and small community banks for the middle to working class. When the British ruled India, their administrative structure was hierarchical (capitalistic), they used knowledge management (socialistic) methods which included tangible and intangible values approach. Information went from the bottom of the chain to the top, information was gathered (data gathering with interviews, investigations and direct supervision) and filtered, whereupon the data would be used to address a given problem and come up with a solution for strong productivity and efficiency. Summary: AWESOME Rating: 5 I am so enjoying reading this book it really is where we need to focus as a society. Very educational and informative, so glad that I bought it. Remarkable I give this book a 5 star plus. I am grateful to Muhammad Yunus, I hope he inspires many more. Summary: A book that reminds you that there is a solution to poverty Rating: 5 This book gives you a blueprint of how the poverty problem can be solved. One thing that Mr. YUNUS pointed out was getting credit to poor people and how the larger economic commumity discriminates against the poor by not giving them credit or giving them a hard time to get it. He also points out similarities with western poverty and how people are also shut out from getting credit. This is a very good book for anyone that wants to know the answer to the poverty question.