Social Business Day 2011 Observed

Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus with other distinguished guests at the start of Social Business Day 2011. Professor Yunus launched the event with an urge to all to accept social business as a tool to find lasting solutions to social problems that afflict people in Bangladesh and elsewhere around the world. Photo: Nasir Ali Mamun.

The 2nd annual Social Business Day events were held on June 28, at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka. Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus opened the event that was attended by over 500 national and international guests. Participants from 15 countries came to learn about the developments in social business around the world.

Social business is a non-loss, non-dividend company dedicated to solving social problems. By bringing business concepts into the sector of solving social problems, it allows business to efficiently and sustainably find solutions to social business.

The theme for this year's event was "Achieving the Millennium Development Goals through social business". The morning session saw Professor Yunus discuss the role that social business can play towards achieving the MDGs. Others who shared their experience in developing social businesses included Saori Dubourg, President, Regional Functions and Country Management, Asia Pacific, BASF, Eric Lesueur, CEO of Veolia Water, Corinne Bazina, Executive Director of Grameen Danone among others.

The opening session was followed by panel discussion moderated by Professor Abdul Hannan Chowdhury, the Dean of the Business School at North South University, Thomas Stelzer, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs at the UN, Rokea Rahman, President of Bangladesh Federation of Women Entrepreneurs and Dr. Riaz Khan, Director of Yunus Centre at Asian Institute of Technology took part in a five member panel discussion. The panelists spoke of ways that social business could be used to achieve the MGD goals.

The afternoon session was exclusively for faculty and students of participating universities and schools of Bangladesh and India. Wockhardt Foundation enabled students from 20 Indian business schools to participate in this session via video link. Professor Yunus answered questions raised by students.

A video message from Monique Coleman, UN Youth Ambassador, inspired the students to use their creativity to solve social problems.

The event was attended by delegates from Bangladesh, Austria, Brazil, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, United Kingdom and the United States.