Social business: A solution to ills

By Arun Devnath

Build business on the selfless nature of mankind. It is business with a difference, social business -- that is. It has a social goal -- to find a solution to a local problem. It may be the seed of a solution to a global problem. Someday, perhaps.

As Muhammad Yunus puts it, an investor in a social business aims to help others without making financial gains for himself. For the company, it is business and must be self-sustaining. The Nobel laureate says it must generate enough income to cover its own costs. In his latest book, Yunus describes a social business as a non-loss, non-dividend company, dedicated entirely to achieving a social goal.

Yunus sat with The Daily Star on the eve of Social Business Day to set a tone for the future of social business, a concept that promises to bring a fundamental change to the traditional economic structure.

The idea of designating June 28 as International Social Business Day was born to celebrate the vision of eradicating global poverty through social business. The day will be observed today in Dhaka, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Karachi, Roorkee (India), Mumbai, Porto (Portugal), Indore, Bangalore, New York City, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Wiesbaden and Johannesburg.

Social business is a new category of business and does not stipulate the end of the familiar profit-maximising model. But it widens, in Yunus's words, the market by giving a new option to consumers, employees and entrepreneurs.

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