Social Business
Yunus clarifies his views on govt’s role
Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus has made a clarification regarding his views on the role of government in social business as appeared in a UNB report The Daily Star ran on Saturday under the headline, “Professor Yunus against govts in social business.”
Prof Yunus said his position on the role of government is different from what was portrayed in the report. He had always said the government has a very important role to play not only in creating social business directly, but also to create a favourable environment for social business to operate and flourish.
Governments in every country, whether local, regional or national, could implement, alongside their traditional programmes, social businesses in different ways, to tackle all the issues that the government is entrusted to address, he insists.
Yunus, managing director of Grameen Bank and the initiator of social business, said the government could set up social business geared to create jobs for the unemployed and address healthcare issues, needs of woman headed households and of old people, homelessness and virtually any other social ill.
It could also set up social business funds that finance social businesses. The role of government cannot be understated, added the Nobel Peace winner.
In addition to what governments do, individuals and citizens have the opportunity to try to solve problems of society through social business, he said.
Prof Yunus also said, what he had been emphasising is that social businesses should not enjoy any special favours or tax exemptions from the government, but be treated like all other business.
With the participation of the citizens and the governments, he believes, society’s most pressing problems could be solved much more effectively.
Yunus Centre is already partnering in setting up social businesses with the governments of many cities, regions and countries around the world. These include, for example, the city of Wiesbaden in Germany, the province of Caldas in Colombia, and the government of Albania, among others, he noted.
He added, based on a cabinet level decision by the Japanese government, its development cooperation agency JICA is designing a social business fund. These governments, and many others, are in the process of creating the necessary funding mechanisms and institutional structures that will enable social businesses to start operating in the near future.
