Greed will destroy us

Highlighting the risks of concentrated wealth and power, Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus yesterday said that a society would eventually collapse if it experiences such concentrations.

"Unless wealth is shared, you cannot sustain a society," he said while delivering his keynote speech at the BIMSTEC Young Gen Forum.

Prof Yunus, a pioneer of microcredit and social business and a Nobel Peace Prize winner for his work in alleviating poverty, is on a two-day visit to Thailand to attend today's BIMSTEC Summit.

Thailand is hosting the 6th Summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), and Bangladesh will assume the chairmanship of the group today.

Thailand has taken over the BIMSTEC Chairmanship from Sri Lanka since 30 March 2022.

Addressing the youth summit, Prof Yunus said businesses should not be greed-driven and that is the first condition of the new, future civilisation.

"Greed will destroy us … Our country is moving forward. Our GDP is growing and all that … growth rate is so high. So what? This gets concentrated in a few hands. They become richer and richer, and we call it development. We call it growth; we call it a fantastic economy," said the chief adviser, adding that this is how the seeds of self-destruction are planted.

He said this is one reason why civilisation cannot be sustained, and this is also destroying the planet.

Prof Yunus, who established the Grameen Bank in 1983, told youth to challenge the system to change the world.

"You cannot create the [new] world with the same system. If you want to change the world, you have to change the system. There's no other option for you. If you go by the same road, you'll always get to the same destination. If you want to go to a new destination, you have to build a new road," he said.

The chief adviser said human beings are not born to work under anybody else, but they were born to be entrepreneurs.

Terming today's youth "the most powerful generation in human history," Yunus urged them to do something for themselves other than "taking orders from somebody else".

Highlighting the importance of access to credit, Yunus said, "You cannot achieve all the rights unless you establish the right to credit."

"The moment you have the right to credit, other rights will be established by themselves by people themselves. You don't have to bring it from outside," he added.

Prof Yunus urged the young generation to build themselves as "three-zero persons" to protect the planet from destruction.

"If we want to provide service, we will have to go to a new civilisation of three zeros -- zero carbon emission, zero waste and zero wealth concentration," he said.

He said the world is approaching a self-destructive civilisation as carbon emission, waste generation, and wealth concentration are plaguing the old economic models.

Stressing that life is about preservation and protection, he emphasised preserving nature to sustain society.

Prof Yunus said once five persons get together, they can create a three-zero club and commit that they will not personally contribute to carbon emission, waste generation and wealth concentration.

"You cannot change the world in a day...if you want to change, start from your village," the chief adviser said.

The BIMSTEC Young Gen Forum was attended by young business leaders who exchanged ideas and explored possibilities in business areas.

The forum was organised as part of the sixth BIMSTEC Summit and related meetings between April 2 and 4.

BIMSTEC consists of seven member countries -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.