I've been invited to the European Social Business Forum in Germany, to discuss about the situation and future directions of Social Business in Europe, and of the new idea of Social Business Cities.
Thanks to Prof. Yunus and Hans Reitz of Grameen Creative Lab for the opportunity.
You can read the program here.
On June 28th there will be the Worldwide Social Business Day 2011, and you can also follow it online.
I'll talk at the Yunus Social Business Center University of Florence.
More info at Grameen Creative Lab and Facebook event.
Thanks to Leonhard Nima.
As I wrote, Grameen Creative Lab has now an office in Mumbai.
GCL Mumbai also launched the Yunus Social Business Fund of Mumbai with Rupees 5 crores to begin with.
“The Yunus Social Business Fund Mumbai is the first social business fund in India. The fund is managed out of Mumbai and is ready to invest into and incubate social businesses across multiple sectors in India,” says Hans Reitz, co-founder of the Grameen Creative Lab.
Prof. Yunus is also working with Oscar-winning film director Shekhar Kapur (I had the pleasure to meet him at the Global Social Business Summit last November) to start a social business fund to invest into water-related social businesses in India. Mr Kapur, who is passionate about water-related issues in India and is currently working on his new film “Paani” (“water” in Hindi), will act as ambassador for the fund.
I think this is a great news to start having many social business in India.
Read more here.
The Greameen Creative Lab is opening an office in Mumbai, India.
A few days ago they had the first Social Business Lab, with
Hans Reitz, the Creative Advisor to Professor Yunus and co-founder of the Grameen Creative Lab, and Aarti Wig, who will head the lab’s efforts in India, leading the event.
“There is a beautiful young generation that wants to change the country. Feeling this energy, it was very easy for us to decide that this is the place to come,” says Hans Reitz
“Mumbai can be a hub for social business in Asia”
I know both Hans and Aarti (and most of the GCL team in Germany), and I wish them all the best for this new "adventure". We are in India with Cure Thalassemia, and we will find a way to collaborate.
I see a great potential in India for social business.
You can get in touch with the GCL Mumbai coordinator Aarti.Wig@grameencl.com
Read more here.
The Grameen Creative Lab has linked my blog as a "recommended blog on social business" in their site.
Thanks to Patrik Kloz and all the GCL staff!
SAP, one of the biggest software companies in the world, is financing a Social Business Fund in Haiti with Prof. Yunus.
This is very important, because investing in a Social Business, rather than just giving money away for one-time donations to projects that must be refinanced every year, is a much wiser and effective way to invest the CSR budget that many companies have.
I've talked to SAP people at the Grameen Global Social Businss Summit, where I also met people from Adidas, ArcelorMittal, BASF, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Telekom, GE Healthcare, Google, Danone, Humana, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Pepsi, Swarovski, UNIQLO and Volkswagen
This is another important step for a broader acceptance and adoption of the Social Business concept created by Prof. Yunus.
Congrats to SAP for their vision and execution, and I hope to see in the next months many more companies embracing social business, directly and/or indirectly.
An excerpt of the press release
Jim Hagemann Snabe, co-CEO of SAP AG. "We have brought that same focus to our relief efforts in Haiti over the past year and are moving beyond the 'one-time donation' concept by partnering with Professor Yunus on long-term economic development with the goal of creating enduring prosperity for the people of Haiti."
Sustainable Employment Through Social Businesses
SAP and its partners are providing support to new social businesses through the YY Haiti (Yunus & You) Social Business Fund and the newly created Grameen Creative Lab Haiti. The businesses will focus on solving specific social problems in sectors in areas such as vocational training, agriculture, nutrition, environmental stewardship and information technology (IT). The first social business pilots, including a cocoa processing factory in Camp-Perrin and an eco-hotel in Cap Haitien, will be launched soon, with additional social business ideas in the planning phase.
"The Grameen Creative Lab Haiti will promote economic empowerment for Haitians by fostering the creation of social businesses in Haiti," said Professor Muhammad Yunus, CEO of the Grameen Bank, founder of the Yunus Centre and originator of the microcredit and social business concept. "We are proud to partner with SAP, whose passion and expertise will contribute to the long-term success of job creation in Haiti."
The entire SAP press release
As I previously wrote, I have attended the Global Social Business Summit 2010 organized by Grameen Creative Lab and Prof. Yunus. It is an invitation only event with people from all over the world (companies, foundations, NGO, universities).
Workshop on "Health care and social business"
Like I already did at the Klassentreffen of Grameen Creative Lab, I've co-moderated the "health care and social business" workshop, this time with Imamus Sultan, CEO of Grameen Health Care. We have received many questions about the Social Business model to cure Thalassemia. I summarize some of them, with the answers we gave:
1) Since a Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) to cure thalassemia costs about 20/25,000 USD in Asia, wouldn't be better so spend the same money to cure many more patients for a desease which is less expensive?
Your question would be right if we would spend taxpayers money; we are a social business in the market, and our "customers" are the families who have a Thalassemia child and who can afford the cost of the BMT. So will will only use private money, and the gross profit will be used to cross-subside the BMT for patients who can't afford it.
2) Why people should come to Asia to have (BMT)
-Many Asian children suffers from Thalassemia, and some of them go to western countries, while it is better for the children (and less exoensive) to stay in thei country or in a similar one.
-Furthermore, there is medical tourism for hearth-surgery from all over the world to Asia, and it could also happen for BMT.
-Thanks to Prof. Guido Lucarelli, Italian doctors are famous in the world to cure Thalassemia, and the scientific coordination will be done by italian doctors.
- Another good reason is that a patient spends about 10% of what we would spend in western countries.
3) Do you plan to have patients from western countries?
Non at the beginning, but it could a goal for the next years. In the USA there are some insurance companies charging less if the patient accepts to have hearth surgery in Asia, in certified hospitals. We could do the same for BMT.
4) Will you also be involved in awarness and screening?
Not directly. But we know that once you inform a family that Thalassemia can be cured through BMT (so no more blood transfusions), then it is easier to convince all the relatives to screen themselves to see if they are carriers.
5) Will you create a blood bank?
It is not in our plans.
6) How do you decide how much to charge? Do you negotiate 1-to-1 with every patient?
We will not negotiate 1-to-1. The price will be the same for all the paying patients.
7) How will you attract CSR money?
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an important goal for us, in 2 ways:
- to look for the initial capital that we need to finance the start up of the BMT unit; like Prof. Yunus always says, CSR money is often (if not always) given for one-time projects (and sometimes just to have a good media coverage...), which need te be financed again the following years with other CSR money; on the contrary, in the social business you just need the initial capital, and in the following years it becomes financially self-sustainable.
- a company could use a slice of its CSR budget to sponsor a patient, paying his cure (for example the children of an employee).
International networking
In the other sessions that I have attended (financing social business, how companies could start a social business) I did an excellent high-level networking with people from all over the world. Here some of the names of the organization I'm in touch with:
Companies
Adidas , ArcelorMittal, BASF, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Telekom, GE Healthcare, Google, Danone, Humana, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Pepsi, SAP, Swarovski, UNIQLO, Volkswagen
Strategic Consultancy
Accenture, Bain, Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey, Roland Berger
Grameen family
Basf-Grameen, Grameen America, Grameen Creative Lab, Grameen Credit Agricole, Grameen Foundation, Grameen Health care, Grameen Research, Grameen Krishi (agriculture) Foundation, Grameen Motsho O Pashusampad Foundation, Grameen Telecom, Grameen Knitwear, Grameen Distribution, Grameen Fabrics & Fashions, Grameen Shakti, Grameen Trust, Grameen Uniqlo, Grameen Veolia, Yunus Center, Yunus center at Asian Institue of Technology
Academic World
Bocconi University, California State University Channel Island, European Business School (EBS), Glasgow Caledonian University, HEC Paris, IESE Barcelona, Istituto Europe di Design, Kwansei Gakuin University, Kyushu University, McGill University, Rikkyo University, Stanford, Yukiguni Maitake
Indian companies and foundations
iWatch, Reliance, Wockhardt Foundation, WhyPoll
Press
Wired, Vogue, Der Spiegel
To catch a Dollar
I've watched the premiere of the movie "To Catch a Dollar" by Gayle Ferraro, about the story of Grameen America, microcredit exported from Bangladesh to the whealtiest county of world! It will be in the theatres from March 10th 2011 (my birthday, by the way"), with a big launch at Google HQ with Prof. Yunus and Google CEO.
My thoughts
I also listened to Paulo Coelho' speech. When asked "What it the secret of your success?", he said "Honestly, I have no idea, and if I knew if wouldn't be the same. I just write what I like, and I wonder why millions of people all over the world read my books".
He also said that being happy doesn't mean to be rich, but to help other people, and I totally agree with him
It was also very interesting the speech of the indian film director Shekhar Kapur, Academy Award winner for the movie "Elizabeth"; I talked to him about my new india project "Cure Thalassemia".
I spoke to dozens of people of the Grameen companies, and also with Prof. Yunus at the gala dinner.
I've noticed that many big companies are seriously evaluating to start and/or be involved in social business, and I think it is very positive for the future of the Social Business idea.
I'll definitely come back next year, and thanks again to Prof. Yunus and his staff in Bangladesh and in Germany for the invitation and for having asked me to co-lead the health-care workshop.
As I already wrote, I'll attend the next Grameen Global Social Business Summit in Germany on 4-5 November, an invitation only event organized by Prof. Yunus with people from all over world interested in Social Business; this is the second edition, and also last year I have been invited.
The agenda is very busy, and, among other things, I'll:
- co-lead the "health care social business" morning workshop with Imamus Sultan, CEO of Grameen Health Care and Sheda Gould of Grameen Creative Lab
- partecipate in a focus group with all the representatives of the worldwide Grameen Social Business Companies and joint ventures
- attend the worskhop "Financing social business"
- listen to the public speech of Prof. Yunus with author and social business ambassador Paulo Coelho
- watch the Film Premiere: “To catch a dollar: Muhammad Yunus Banks on America“
And excellent networking is expected, like last year!
I'll write more once I'll be back.
The Global Social Business Summit, organized by Grameen Creative Lab, is an invitation-only event that gathers 400 people from all over the world involved in Social Business, with also all the top managers of the Grameen companies of Prof. Yunus. It will be in Germany on November 4th.
This is the second edition, and last year (see photos) I attended it and it was an amazing event, I met many interesting people from all over the world.
I'm involved in the Grameen-Cure2Children social business to cure Thalassemia, and I've been asked to co-lead the workshop "healthcare as social business", and it is for me an honor.
The following list is to give you an idea of the quality and level of the participants:
Corporate World
adidas Group, ArcelorMittal, BASF, Continental, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Telekom, E.ON, Fast Retailing, GE Healthcare, Groupe Danone, Intel, Hindustan Construction Company, Humana, Mainova, Otto Group, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, SAP, Solar World, Unicredit Group, UNIQLO, Veolia Water, Volkswagen
Academic World
Bocconi University, California State University Channel Island, European Business School (EBS), Glasgow Caledonian University, HEC Paris, Harvard Business School, Humboldt Viadrina School of Government, IESE Barcelona, Istituto Europe di Design, Kwansei Gakuin University, Kyushu University, Leuphana University, McGill University, Rikkyo University, Sigmud Freud Private University, Zeppelin University
Thanks to Prof. Yunus, Hans Reitz and Aline Wachner for this great opportunity.
I'll write more when I'll be back from Germany
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step", a Chinese proverb says.
When in 2006 Bill Gates announced that he was going to leave Microsoft to spend most of his time in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, I started to further think about life priorities.
I first heard about Social Business about 1 year ago, when I accidentally read the book "Creating a World Without Poverty" by Prof. Yunus. I was immediately extremely fascinated by this new idea, and, even if I still don't know why I did it, one night I sent him an email, and he replied to me from his blackberry the following day. I was very surprised, if not shocked, and that was the beginning of my journey in the Social Business world!
I went to Dhaka in Bangladesh to meet him, togheter with my friends doctor Pietro Sodani and Lawrence Faulkner. That day has changed my life.
Since then many things have happened, and I'm now personally involved in 3 health care Social Business in Asia and Africa:
I've attended Grameen events (in 3 cases as speaker) in:
I've spoken face-to-face with Prof. Yunus a number of times.
I've been cited in some pages of Prof. Yunus' new book "Building Social Business", whose chapter 4 is entirely dedicated to Grameen-Cure2Children.
In the meanwhile I've read more than 15 books on the topic of social business, social entrepreneurship and philantrocapitalism, to learn as much as I can (you can find them on the left side-bar).
I think that Social Business is a great idea, and it will have a huge impact in the coming years, and not only in developing countries. It will not magically solve all the social problems, but it will contribute to alleviate (and in some cases solve) some of them, without using taxpayers and/or donors money, but mainly the creativity and passion of social entrepreneurs.
It is a business, but the main and unique goal is to solve a social problem, and not to make money. And this is why it is completely different from capitalism, whose main goal and side effects are not always positive.
I like and love Social Business, and in this blog (also available in Italian) I'll tell:
To stay in touch with you and keep you informed, I'll use extensively the social media. You can follow me here:
My journey in the Social Business world keeps going, welcome on board!
if you have comments, please write here in the blog.
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