Apr 07 2009
Radical Thinking and Social Entrepreneurship
Recently I was sitting at the pool, wasting time and listening to a broadcast on PRI (Public Radio International). The subject was Social Business Development. The speaker was 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yanus of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. The bank has its focus on the poor and small loan programs with significant impact. I was amazed at the statistics he was discussing. 98% of the loans his bank gives out are repaid in full. They set up a personal relationship with each of their borrowers. They assist and advise each of them and follow up with support as needed. Most of the borrowers are poor women, eager to start a small business that will help them and their families get out of the grip of poverty.
Recently the bank began a program for beggars. They determined that as long as beggars were going house to house trying to get food, they might also carry along a small item for sale i.e. a toy for a child, or a small household item that might be useful. The beggars have no collateral, nothing but their own effort to sustain them, but in this past year most who have begun this work have found success and many are no longer begging at all. They have made enough to set up small shops or they continue to sell door to door, no longer needing a handout.
This social entrepreneurship turns the greed of Wall Street on its head. In this economic downturn which has caused so much hardship to so many, it is more than refreshing to hear of this radical thinking.
Many websites are devoted to the subject of social responsibility and I encourage you to explore a few of them.
Just yesterday I was listening to the Diane Rheme Show. Her guest was the former CEO of AARP. He is going to Georgetown University to teach Social Responsibility courses to the students. This is one hot topic!
What do you think?
This is a subject near and dear to my heart. I have followed it for 20 years and am pleased to see more of a global interest.
Yanus is one of the inspirations behind the Center for Women & Enterprise (www.cweonline.org) in Boston, MA. CWE was originally conceived of being a loan fund. The recession of the early 90’s quickly made it not feasible so we established a education and technical assistance center.
By supporting the women the families are safe and the greater world has a chance to defeat terrorism in my opinion. Supporting the men in the same manner does not achieve anywhere near the same results.
A new book that covers this subject and one I highly recommend is The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogratz, the founder of the Acumen Fund.
Bentley University in Waltham, MA has launched a micro-credit initiative as well that is just coming on-line. They are expecting to work with the clients of CWE as well as artists. For artists are small business owners too.
These are exciting times for those of us who believe the future must address methods for bridging the widening gap between rich and poor globally.