Making other people happy is super-happiness
"Making money is happiness; making other people happy is super-happiness."
Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus made the simple statement when explaining the concept of social business, his brainchild, to a dominantly young audience in the capital yesterday.
Money and profit for one's own development cannot be the sole incentive for doing business but rather there can be joy in solving people's problems, the economist told the Social Business Academic Conclave 2015 at Eastern University.
Separately, the Nobel peace prize winner called on the youth to unleash their untapped entrepreneurial skills to create businesses instead of running after jobs.
“All human beings are born entrepreneurs without exception. But the society has erased the entrepreneurial skills from them. We have to undo it,” the founder of Grameen Bank told the Social Business Youth Summit 2015 at the capital's Krishibid Institution.
'EMPLOYMENT CREATES UNEMPLOYMENT'
At Eastern University (EU), Prof Yunus started off with the story of microcredit and how he linked it to solve sanitation problems in villages through social business ventures.
Social business is one that solves problems, he said.
The micro-lender said the present financial system based on the theory of pursuing self-interests would not be sustainable. It destroys the creative man by making him a mere employee, he added. "It is employment which created unemployment."
He urged the youth to be job-creators not job-seekers. "If the 85 lakh uneducated women of Grameen Bank can become entrepreneurs why can't the educated youth become entrepreneurs?" he asked. "You need to come up with small ideas to solve big problems."
The daylong conclave organised in collaboration with Yunus Centre with the theme "Implanting Social Business in Academia" included discussions, a dialogue between academicians, thinkers, and corporate leaders, and a research paper competition and a social business plan competition on ideas of social business and its promotion in the mainstream.
Prof Abdur Rab, vice chancellor of EU, talked about the university's current three-month short course on social business and its effort to develop a 3-credit elective course on social business.
The university would also establish a centre for training and research on social business with help from Yunus Centre, he said.
Three research papers out of 10 from different universities were given awards.
Parisa Islam, assistant professor of EU, received the first prize for her paper "Re-framing Marketing for Social Business", Saad Md Maroof Hossain, lecturer at North South University, won the second prize for his paper "Leadership Traits for a Sustainable Social Business" and Niaz M Patwary, assistant professor, University of Liberal Arts of Bangladesh, got the third prize for his paper "Is social innovation the sole preserve of third sector organisations?".
A team from EU became the champion of the Social Business Plan Competition 2015 for their "Evidence Glass" project, about making and selling eye-glasses for women to record incidence of crimes.
The "Green Farmers" project by Southeast University students became the 1st runner-up while the "Biogas" project by students of the Institute of Business Administration at Jahangirnagar University, and the "Pushti Chal" project by Daffodil International University students jointly became the 2nd runner-up.
The Nobel winner was presented with a crest by Mohammad Enayet Ullah, chairman of EU.
'BRAINWASHED'
Prof Yunus said nobody could change the world with profit-focused businesses. “We need to get out of these types of businesses as soon as possible and start social businesses to create a new civilisation, which is free of poverty, unemployment, and carbon emissions.”
He urged students not to think that they could not be entrepreneurs and do well in business while studying. “In fact, there are hundreds of thousands of examples in the world where people have launched businesses while still at college or university.”
The banker to the poor said students had been brainwashed into thinking that they would have to seek jobs after they graduated. “It is like we have become slaves -- if someone gives me money, I will give them service in return,” he said.
“It is unfortunate because graduates normally don't seek funds after they finish education.”
“Students should design the society in the shape they like it to see... They can't wait for others to do it, as traditional profit-making businesses and markets will not do it for them.”
Around 600 youths from universities and colleges joined the daylong summit.
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