Global Policy board member Muhammad Yunus has developed a visionary new dimension for capitalism which he calls "social business". By harnessing the energy of profit-making to the objective of fulfilling human needs, social business creates self-supporting, viable commercial enterprises that generate economic growth even as they produce goods and services that make the world a better place. In Building Social Business, Professor Yunus shows how social business has gone from being a theory to an inspiring practice, adopted by leading corporations, entrepreneurs and social activists across the world. He also demonstrates how social business transforms lives; offers practical guidance for those who want to create social businesses of their own; explains how public and corporate policies must adapt to make room for the social business model; and shows why social business holds the potential to redeem the failed promise of free-market enterprise.
This event celebrates the publication of Professor Yunus new book Building Social Business.
Muhammad Yunus was born in Chittagong, a seaport in Bangladesh. The third of fourteen children, he was educated at Dhaka University and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study economics at Vanderbilt University. He then served as chairman of the economics department at Chittagong University before devoting his life to providing financial and social services to the poorest of the poor. He is the founder and managing director of Grameen Bank and the author of the bestselling Banker to the Poor. Yunus and Grameen Bank are winners of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.
A podcast of the full lecture is available here.
Date: Tuesday 25 May 2010
Time: 5-6pm
Venue: Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Professor Muhammad Yunus
Chair: Howard Davies
For more information, please visit the LSE Events page.