“Practice makes perfect” is an old expression that doing an activity over and over again is a method of improving and mastering it. For a country like Bangladesh who face decades of trying to overcome their problems in poverty, natural disaster, malnutrition, and illiteracy, they have convincing experience to become the leaders of the world in solving social problems. Founder of Grameen Creative Lab, Hans Reitz, spoke about social business in at The Daily Star Centre in Dhaka, Bangladesh this past weekend.
“It is just a matter of time that Bangladesh becomes a champion in social business to solve social problems,” Reitz said.
As Grameen Creative Lab embraces the principles of professor Muhammad Yunus’ social business model, he explains that social businesses are different from capitalist business because the former hinges on social values. Social businesses should not be tax-free and should operate as any other business that is part of the community. The company should earn a profit to keep the venture running and employees should be paid with market rates.
His views on developed countries explain the need for social businesses everywhere.
“My village in Wiesbaden in Germany is one of the richest and modern villages in the world. It has no electricity crisis or pollution. Still, many people are poor. There are also many elderly people who are not taken care of by anybody. We know about them when they die.”
Others also contributed their thoughts on social business.
“Social business tells us to think out of the box and think of business differently,” tells Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of The Daily Star.
“We all know that the world has progressed a lot. But there are also a lot of failures. We produce enough food; still many people go hungry.”
“So, social business applies to everything, including our lifestyle. This is actually the beginning of a journey of new creativity.”
As for the future, Shah Husain Imam, associate editor of The Daily Star, believes social business practices should be audited so that the targeted people can get the most benefits from the effort.
