Social Business Day today

About 1,000 participants from home and abroad will gather in Dhaka today to observe Social Business Day to find ways to turn ideas into realities that solve social problems.
About 150 participants from 30 countries will also attend the fourth annual Social Business Day with the theme of “turning visions into realities” at Radisson Hotel in the city.
The event coincides with the birthday of the man who pioneered the concept: Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus.
Yunus Centre, which promotes ideas invented by Prof Yunus such as microcredit and social business, is organising the event.
The event will give participants an opportunity to discuss their work, business models, recent achievements and challenges with social business entrepreneurs from around the world.
The daylong programme will include plenary discussions, special presentations and speech by Grameen Bank Founder Prof Yunus.
Social Business Day 2013 is a platform to share experiences in social businesses — non-dividend companies to solve social problems.
Participants will hear first-hand accounts from representatives of social business organisations around the world.
A Social Business Marketplace will take place, where products and programmes of social business working in Bangladesh and various countries of Asia, Europe and Latin America will be showcased.
There will also be different panel sessions to highlight issues such as “Entrepreneurs and investors,” “Social business: youth and technology,” “Social business and healthcare”, “NGOs and social business” and “Microfinance as social business”.
Emmanuel Faber, CEO of Danone, France; Binod Chaudhary, chairman of Chaudhary Group, Nepal; YAM Tunku Redhauddin, prince of Seremban State, Malaysia; Monique Coleman, UN youth ambassador; Prof  Rahmah Mohamed, deputy vice chancellor of the National University of  Malaysia; Andrea Heinecke, founder of the Dialogue in the Dark, Germany; Prof Cam Donaldson, Glasgow Caledonian University, Yunus Chair in social business and health; Larry Reed, director of Microcredit Summit Campaign, and Gabo Arora, UN department of economic and social affairs, will also speak at the event.
Three Bangladeshi universities -- North South University, Daffodil International University and Dhaka International University -- will organise programmes on social business tomorrow. Prof Yunus is expected to speak at all three events.
According to Prof Yunus, social business is a cause-driven business where the investors or owners can gradually recoup the money invested, but cannot take any dividend beyond that point.
Purpose of the investment is purely to achieve one or more social objectives through the operation of the company, no personal gain is desired by the investors.