Term Paper
Of
Managerial
Communication
Recommendations for
Social Business In Dhaka
Prepared For:
Muhammad Intisar Alam
Course Instructor
South East University
Banani
Prepared By:
MD. RIADH HASAN
ISRAT JAHAN
FARZANA AKTER
FATEMA AKTER
ABU SALEHIN SABBIR
TANIYA BINTEY HOSSAIN
TASHIBA BINTEY HOSSAIN
SHAKIR UDDIN AHMED BAPPY
Date: April 20, 2015
Group Profile
SL NAME ID
1 MD. RIADH HASAN 2015010001008
2 ISRAT JAHAN 2015010001009
3 FARZANA AKTER 2015010001019
4 FATEMA AKTER 2013210001065
5 ABU SALEHIN SABBIR 2013210001002
6 TANIYA BINTEY HOSSAIN 2015010001013
7 TASHIBA BINTEY HOSSAIN 2015010001014
8 SHAKIR UDDIN AHMED BAPPY 2014210001001
Letter of Preface Date: 20/04/2015
Muhammad Intisar Alam
Department Of Business Administration
Southeast University
Subject: Submission of Research Report.
Sir,
It is a great pleasure and privilege to present the report titled “Social Business In Dhaka”. This was assigned
to us as a partial requirement for the term paper.
It is our great pleasure to work for a private social organization and gain an in-depth knowledge on leading
process and monitoring techniques. Throughout the study we have tried with the best of our capacity to
accommodate as much information and relevant issues as possible and tried to follow the instructions as you
have suggested. We tried our best to make this report as much informative as possible.
We are grateful to you for your guidance and kind cooperation at every step of my endeavor on this report.
We shall remain deeply grateful if you kindly take some pen to go through the report and evaluate our
performance.
………………………………. Batch: 39 Section-2
Group-1 Masters of Business Administration (MBA)
Southeast University
Acknowledgement
We are really grateful because we managed to complete our
Managerial Communication assignment within the time given by
our lecturer Mr. Muhammad Intisar Alam. This assignment cannot
be completed without the effort and co-operation from our group
members, Israt, Sabbir, Trisha, Trina, Fatema, Farzana & Bappy.
In addition we remain grateful to Grameen Bank & Grameen Intel
during the term paper providing various data, information. Last but
not least, we would like to express our gratitude to our friends and
respondents for the support and willingness to spend some times
with us to fill in the questionnaires.
Executive Summary
This report title “Social Business in Dhaka” covers the elementary concepts of Social Business. It begins
from “Definition” and ends till “Recommendation” through some of its real life applications. The definit ion
part is enriched with seven different definitions which will make the readers concept clearer than before on
this topic. There is a visual display of the definition as well to make it better understand.
This report is based on an analysis of the lessons learned from ten social business that operate in Bangladesh
today, each tackling a different social problem affecting people at the bottom of the economic pyramid. In
this report, we spotlight each of those businesses, sharing’s their focus and their accomplishments to date.
Many of them are joint ventures between a Grameen organization and a multinational partner such as
Danone, Intel, Veolia and BASE. While several of the businesses are still in the learning stage, others – such
as Grameen Shakti and Grameen GC Eye care hospital – have already achieved social impact, significant,
scale and financial self-sufficiency.
Table of Contents
SL Topic Page No
1
Introduction: 1
1.1 Problem Of The Statement 2
1.2 Objective Of The Statement 2
1.3 Mission & Vision Statement 3
5 What is Social Business? 4
6 Seven Principles Of Social Business 5
7 Social Business: Cooperation Vs Competetion 6--7
8 Types Of Social Business 8
9 The Social Business Model 8
10
Findings:
Social Business Projects 9--18
10.1. GRAMEEN DANONE 9
10.2 GRAMEEN VEOLIA WATER LTD 9--12
10.3 GRAMEEN BASF 13
10.4 GRAMEEN GC EYE CARE HOSPITAL 13--15
10.5 Grameen Intel 15
10.6 Mrittika 15
10.7 Ankur 15
10.8 Shumata 16
10.9 Dolna 16
10.10 Grameen Trust, Intel, Capital 16
10.11 GRAMEEN HEALTHCARE 17--18
11 FAQ 18--21
12 Conclusion 22
13 Reference 23
Introduction
Social business is a new category of business. It does not stipulate the end of the existing type of profit-
making business. It widens the market by giving a new option to consumers. It does not intend to monopolies
the market and take the existing option away. It adds to the competition. It brings a new dimension to the
business world, and a new feeling of social awareness among the business community.
The main similarity between traditional businesses and social businesses is that they both try to maximize
profit by charging consumers for goods and services. However, there is one main difference between the
traditional business model and the social business model. The traditional business is designed to earn the
maximum income for the owners of the business.
In contrast, the objective of a social business is to provide the maximum amount of social benefit for its
consumers. As a result there is a difference in how profit is used in either model.
In a traditional business a portion is taken as personal profit by the owners and another portion is reinvested
back into the business.
In contrast, a social business reinvested all its profits back into the business for expansion. This means that
any profit that is made from the businesses' customers is then reinvested back into improving the goods and
services that the customers receive and improving their community.
The advantage of the social business model is that it creates a snowball effect where it only takes one
donation at the start to get the ball rolling. After that the possibilities are endless because it can continue to
grow using only the fees that it charges for its goods and services. This is the benefit that the social business
model provides over the traditional charity model. It is a faster way to help the most people possible.
The two models are similar in their objectives for combating a specific social problem, however, the social
business allows for an approach which can grow faster and reach more people.
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1.1 Problem of the Statement
The purpose of the problem statement is to show why the proposed program is needed to convince the
reviewer, through supportive evidence and persuasive argument that a compelling problem exists in our
community that can be addressed by our program.
1.2 Objective of the Statement
In a social business, the investors/owners can gradually recoup the money invested, but cannot take any
dividend beyond that point. The purpose of the investment is purely to achieve one or more social objectives
through the operation of the company. No personal gain is desired by the investors. The company must cover
all costs and be financially sustainable, while achieving the social objective in sectors such as healthcare,
education, poverty, environment, housing, climate urgency etc. Once the original investment has been
recouped by the investors, profit stays within the company to expand its outreach and increase the social
impact.
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1.3 Vision Statement
It’s vision is of a world where the financial system is a powerful force for good and the impacts of businesses
are considered in all investment decisions. It is the mission to bring impact as the third dimension into
investing, where all investors consider risk, return and impact – creating an environment for entrepreneurs
and businesses that make a difference to thrive. Being socially responsible means that people and
organizations must behave ethically and with sensitivity towards social, cultural, economic and
environmental issues. Striving for social responsibility helps individuals, organizations and governments
have a positive impact on development, business and society with a positive contribution to bottom-line
results.
1.3 Mission Statement
By working with corporations, philanthropists, charities and government entities who wish to maximize their
social impact, our final goal is to eradicate poverty and tackle society’s most urgent issues, focusing on
helping disadvantaged women and children without discrimination of race, background, creed or political
views.
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What Is Social Business?
Social business is a cause-driven business. In a social business, the investors/owners can gradually recoup
the money invested, but cannot take any dividend beyond that point. Purpose of the investment is purely to
achieve one or more social objectives through the operation of the company, no personal gain is desired by
the investors. The company must cover all costs and make profit, at the same time achieve the social
objective, such as, healthcare for the poor, housing for the poor, financial services for the poor, nutrition for
malnourished children, providing safe drinking water, introducing renewable energy, etc. in a business way.
The impact of the business on people or environment, rather the amount of profit made in a given period
measures the success of social business. Sustainability of the company indicates that it is running as a
business. The objective of the company is to achieve social goals.
Now-a-days social business is a modern form of business for them who benefited by the social help and
build up the society by their integrity. Social business implies socio-economic development process which is
significantly changing the social growth of the society.
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SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL BUSINESS
Business objective will be to overcome poverty, or one or more
problems (such as education, health, technology access, and
environment) which threaten people and society; not profit
maximization
Financial and economic sustainability
Investors get back their investment amount only. No dividend is
given beyond investment money
When investment amount is paid back, company profit stays with
the company for expansion and improvement
Environmentally conscious
Workforce gets market wage with better working conditions
...do it with joy
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Social Business: Cooperation vs Competition
Even Sumantra Ghoshal mentioned it in his in-depth criticism of the management teaching model used by Business
Schools: the world of management has been built on principles and ideologies that do not take into account the real
nature of man and social organization. The predominance of a vision of the company based on the assumptions of the
classical economy – competition and tendency towards individual usefulness – have made us forget how the essence
of the company is firstly its organization, or rather the search for an articulated and complex form of cooperation. The
(theoretical) success of the agency theory has reduced each social action to the relationship between an individual and
a system of extrinsic incentives, with each problem seemingly solvable only with the adequate mix of incentives that
reward only the best and most worthy.
Public services are also not immune to this, with schools, universities and the health system reduced to experiments of
an unproved and improvable abstract model of people and companies. And management is becoming more and more
“talent management”, meaning management by only a restricted group of people characterized by unique and
unrepeatable elements that they would like to connect to performance. The organization is also disappearing and
being reduced to the creation of a context in which various talents are placed in competition with each other.
In this social Darwinist scenario, the explosive revolution of social media makes the little-known thought of Chester
Barnard (1938), little-studied and barely-loved for its unnatural mixture of practical and human experience and of the
complexities of theoretical and scientific references, has become topical again. For Barnard an organization is firstly
the result of the evolution of humanity, based on the complete development of our capability to collaborate. The
complexity of collaborating is not underestimated, so much so that Barnard points out its temporary nature and
proposes that in fact management’s main role is to guarantee it . But his contribution has been suppressed by a
transposition of the purpose of organizations which, by the complex achievement of individual collaborative capability,
have been reduced to gyms for exercising competition. As in the parody of Monsters Inc. by Pixar, competition (like
children’s fear) has produced its results, as its standard -bearers support, but they are not even vaguely comparable to
the potential of cooperation (the children’s happiness).
The revolution of social media and the speed with which it has spread is often connected with the trajectory of the
technologies, emphasizing, for example, the role of the transition from web 1.0 to web 2.0 and in general pointing out
the size of the applications. In reality, the technology, as shown by Stephen Barley (1986), for example, is only the
cause for social reorganization processes deriving from deeper needs. The success of social media therefore
represents the beginning of the revenge of cooperation on competition and outlines a differ ent path than that of the
acquisition and adaptation of technologies by businesses to ride this change.
Page-6
In order to better understand this success we firstly need to clarify what we mean by social media by using the most
recent definition by Gartner, who make the following divisions:
1. Social networking: products of management of online social networks such as MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn
and Friendster and social network analysis (SNA) technologies that use algorithms to understand and map
relations among people in social contexts.
2. Social collaboration: technologies such as wikis, blogs, instant messaging, collaborative office and crowd
sourcing that allow people to exchange knowledge and work together without having to be in the same place as
each other.
3. Social publishing: technologies that facilitate the collection of materials and contents to be made available in a
single manifold easily accessible by all members of the community of reference such as YouTube and flickr.
4. Social feedback: tools to obtain feedback and opinions from a community on elements of specific knowledge as
happens on YouTube, flickr, Digg, Del.icio.us and Amazon.
This definition greatly broadens the information horizon compared to the simple Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn triad
to which many managers refer in meetings. It also adds applications and tools that not by chance have led Gartner to
predict that, by 2016, social media technologies will be integrated into the majority of business applications, requiring
for example an integrated CRM management, internal communication and collaboration, and public initiatives of social
relations with clients. Even research into information systems for the HR of CedarCrestone in the 2010-2011 edition
highlights how as much as 15% of businesses have adopted social media tools and 14% intend to adopt them in the
next three years. Faced with ever more complex and inter-connected problems, decisional architecture represented by
modern business and governance models, heavily anchored in a hierarchical and command-control principle, is unable
to withstand any longer. Since the Nineties, the symptoms of the crisis have been handled with marginal adjustments,
for example on the human resources management policies front, by stimulating internal entrepreneurship,
accentuating the differences on variable remuneration, or on an organizational model level, proposing learning
organization or network concepts. As often happens in transition stages, with some clear exceptions, those that would
be called for a role to govern this transition are also those that had more to lose to begin with in terms of power and
control. As a result there is a stubborn and organized resistance that is trying to transform social media into
controllable and predictable tools.
Page-7
Types Of Social Business
There are two types of Social Business:
Type I Focuses on businesses dealing with social objectives only. E.g.: The product produced is for the benefit of
the poor or targeted to solve a specific social problem. Grameen-Danone is an example of Type I social
business. The Shokti Doi yogurt produced in the plant in Bogra, Bangladesh, is fortified with micronutrients
that are missing in the poor children and it is targeted to fight malnutrition. If malnourished children eat two
cups of Shokti Doi per week for approximately 8-10 months, they grow healthy.
Type II
Can take up any profit maximizing business so long as it is owned by the poor and the disadvantaged, who
can gain through receiving direct dividends or by some indirect benefits. E.g.: The product could be
produced by the poor but exported to an international market while net profits would go towards workers
benefits. Examples of Type II social business are Grameen-Otto and Grameen Bank. Please note that
Grameen Bank is both Type I and Type II social business, as it is owned by the poor people and it provides a
financial service (microcredit – loan without collateral for income generating activities) which was
previously unavailable to poor people, especially women.
The Social Business Model
Page-8
Social Business Projects
10.1 GRAMEEN DANONE
Grameen and Group Danone went into a joint venture to create a yogurt fortified with micro-nutrients to
decrease malnutrition for the children of Bangladesh. The yogurt is produced with solar and bio gas energy
and is served in environmentally friendly packaging. The first plant started production in Late 2006. The 10-
year plan is to establish 50+ plants, create several hundred distribution jobs and self-degradable packaging.
10.2 GRAMEEN VEOLIA WATER LTD
Nature has bestowed the blessing of abundant fresh water on Bangladesh, in the form of numerous
groundwater resources that are not too deep and are therefore easy to exploit. Nearly 8 million wells were
bored during the 1970s and 80s, which now give almost 90% of the population access to water. However, for
essentially geological reasons, almost all of the groundwater has been found to be contaminated with arsenic,
very often at levels that make it a heath hazard. At the beginning of the 1990s, hospitals in Bangladesh
started reporting an alarming increase in the number of cases of arsenicosis. Today, more than 30 million
Bangladeshis have fallen victim to chronic arsenic poisoning and some have even died.
Against this background, Grameen and Veolia Water have decided to join forces and combine their
complementary skills to make clean and safe water accessible to villagers in the poorest parts of Bangladesh.
Page-9
Joint Venture
A new company was formed and registered in Bangladesh under the name of Grameen-Veolia Water Ltd. It
is jointly owned at parity by Grameen Healthcare Services (a Grameen subsidiary for health and hygiene)
and Veolia Water AMI (Veolia Water's subsidiary for Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent)
and its task will be to build and operate several water production and treatment plants in some of the poorest
villages in the center and south of Bangladesh. All in all, 100,000 people in around 5 villages are forecast to
be served by this initiative, for a total investment of USD 800 000.
Veolia will provide the technical know how and the transfer of technology while Grameen will provide its
local knowledge and networks in rural Bangladesh for the success of this project.
Grameen Veolia Water Ltd is a 50-50 joint venture. The new company has been established based according
to the social business philosophy of Professor Muhammad Yunus.
Social Business
The aim of a social business is to have a social goal that the company can pursue on behalf of its investors.
At the same time a social business is aimed at being self sustainable meaning it must attempt to avert losses
just as any other normal company.
When profits are accumulated only the amount of invested shall be returned to the investors. Thereby not
giving back dividends beyond the amount invested. Profits are reinvested for expansion and further social
benefit by providing a good or service at the best price to help the people. To sum it all a social business is
company aimed at providing a good or service to help the people while operating with the motto of No Loss,
No dividends•.
Page-10
General scope
Grameen Veolia Water Ltd will develop projects in 5 different villages. For each of them, the company will
invest in a production / distribution unit of drinking water, and operate it.
Every plant will produce water according to WHO standards by treating surface waters. Drinking water will
be, in each village, distributed via stand-pipes, through a dedicated network. At this stage, no domestic
connection is forecast.
Main usage for water will be for drinking and cooking. Daily consumption for a 6 person fami ly is estimated
to be 30 Litres/day.
According to the social business model, drinking water will sold at factory gate for 1 Bangladeshi taka per 10
litres (1 euro cent per 10 litres).
First project: Goalmari Union
The first project will take place in Goalmari, a village located 50 km east of Dhaka.
Goalmari's population is about 25 000 inhabitants. The local population use groundwater for cooking and
drinking but 83% of the deeptuble are naturaly contaminated in arsenic (>10µg/L). As the sur face water is
not contaminated in arsenic, the plant will use river water and provide it via a pipeline network, to tap point
located in clusters.
Page-11
Goalmari network will reach first the poorest part of the
population of Goalmari living on the bend of the river (impacted by monsoon high water level). To provide
the water to farer isolated area, some other distributing systems are being studied, like rickshaw water
transportation.
The water will be further distributed by stand pipes where Grameen ladies can dispense the water at certain
times during the day when people bring there pitchers or jars. These points will be located at key areas of the
villages.
The water will also be transport at a slightly higher cost by an Auto rickshaw fitted with a water tank to
people who prefer to travel the least to collect there and have a higher disposable income.
Other Projects
Projects on 4 other villages will be implemented as soon as possible after Goalmari:
Start up of village no. 2 (Padua Union) is scheduled in 2010.
Start ups of villages no. 3 and 4 are scheduled in 2011 and village 5 in 2012.
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10.3 GRAMEEN BASF
Grameen and BASF went into a joint venture because there are area's in
Bangladesh where there is a high risk of catching Malaria (58K newly infected in 2007). The product created
is a mosquito net to protect against malaria, which that families would sleep under. Half a million nets have
already been produced. The idea of the joint venture was to develop affordable products for the poor that
could protect them from deadly diseases. Grameen BASF have also started the production of micronutrient
sachets to sprinkle on food, which provides essential nutrients that are missing from the poors daily diets.
10.4 GRAMEEN GC EYE CARE HOSPITAL
In 2001, GB established the Prevention of Cataract Blindness Project,
which has now become the Grameen GC Eye Care Hospital in Bogra as a
social business. A second Eye Care Hospital has now been built in Barisal,
in southern Bangladesh, which began operating in April 2009.
Professor Muhammad Yunus and The Green Children opened First
Grameen Eye Hospital in Bangladesh on May 12, 2008 Structured as a Social Business Enterprise, Facility
Can Potentially Grow To Perform 50,000 Examinations, 10,000 Cataract Operations Annually
[At the inauguration of the Grameen GC Eye Care Hospital]
The Grameen Green Children Eye Hospitals, modeled after the highly successful Aravind eye hospitals in
India, will be structured as social business enterprises described in the new book by Professor Yunus,
Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism. The Aravind system in
Page-13
India currently does 1.7 million examinations and 250,000 operations a year.
Once the first eye hospital physicians, surgeons and other staff have been trained and fully operational, it will
work to become self-sustaining and perform a projected 50,000 eye examinations and 10,000 cataract
operations per year.
Both hospitals will charge patients based on their ability to pay, with wealthier clients charged at a slightly
higher rate and the poor a little less. Everyone will receive the same high-quality treatment. While all
patients will be expected to pay something, no one will be denied care. Those with no funds will be asked to
pay later, when they can.
The key to the success of the model is a system that delivers very high quality at an affordable cost by using
high volume and having highly trained technicians doing most of the examination and preparation work so
that ophthalmologists can focus on the operations. The model has been so successful in India that
representatives of some of the leading medical schools in the United States have visited Aravind to bring
some of the lessons learned back home.
A rising international band, The Green Children recently signed to the world's largest music label, Universal
Music Group. The duo comprises Milla Sunde from Norway and Tom Bevan from England. Their debut
record with Universal Records will be launched later this year. In addition to their flourishing music career,
Tom and Milla have been working for several years with the foundation they jointly established.
The Green Children Foundation supports microcredit, education and healthcare and is focused on engaging
young people in supporting positive and effective solutions to conquer world poverty.
In 2006, The Green Children made their second trip to Bangladesh to film a music video for their song "Hear
Me Now",• which tells the story of a successful women borrower of Grameen Bank. This video has been
used in fundraising for the eye hospitals and will receive a world wide release later this year.
Grameen Bank, and the concept and methodology of micro-credit that it has elaborated through its 30 years
of work, have contributed to enhancing the chances of peace by reducing poverty. Grameen Bank Project
was founded by Professor Yunus in the village of Jobra, Bangladesh, in 1976. In 1983 it was transformed
Page-14
into a formal bank under a special law passed for its creation. It is owned by the poor borrowers of the bank
who are mostly women. It works exclusively for them. Borrowers of Grameen Bank at present own 94 per
cent of the total equity of the bank. Remaining 6 percent is owned by the government. Dr. Yunus and the
Grameen Bank jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, in December 2006.
10.5 Grameen Intel
Information technology solutions for rural entrepreneurs providing services in their local communities.
During a visit to Bangladesh in 2007, Intel Chairman Craig Barrett met with Nobel Peace Laureate
Muhammad Yunus and decided creating a social business with a focus on technology.
Software Products
In AGRICULTURE, individuals or organizations providing soil testing services can use their eAgro products
like ankur and mrittikā to help increase crop yields.
10.6 mrittikā• is a soil nutrient analysis and recommendation software Rural entrepreneurs providing soil
testing services to the farmers use mrittikā• to analyze and recommend fertilizers. This helps reduce input
costs and achieve optimal yields.
10.7 ankur is a seed selection and recommendation application. This application analyses the season and
farmer's land condition and prescribes the best seed.
Page-15
In HEALTHCARE, health clinics can use products like dolnā•� and shumā��tā�� to improve mother
and child health outcomes.
10.8 Shumātā is an ante-natal care monitoring and tracking software for pregnant women. Mobile health
workers, doctors at rural clinics and health administrators can use this software to identify high risk
pregnancies early on. This ensures appropriate follow up and regular ante-natal care.
10.9 dolnā• is a vaccine scheduling and tracking software for newborns and
infants using SMS. Mobile health workers, doctors at rural clinics and health
administrators can use this software to ensure that infants are given all their
required vaccinations on time.
10.10 Our vision is to create technology solutions to connect and improve people's lives around the world.
For more information visit us at www.grameen- intel.com.
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10.11 GRAMEEN HEALTHCARE
Extending the Success of the Principles of Microcredit to Health Care Delivery
Health-related social businessese
Grameen is collaborating with multinational companies like Danone, Veolia and BASF to bring health
related social businesses to the poor of Bangladesh.
Grameen Danone and BASF Grameen address malnutrion among the rural population through the production
and sale and fortified yogurt in the case of the former, and multiple micronutrient sachets in the case of the
latter which address deficiencies in the diet especially among children and pregnant/lactating mothers.
In addition, BASF Grameen will produce and sell long lasting treated mosquito nets to combat mosquito
borne diseases such as malaria and dengue in Bangladesh.
Page-17
Grameen Veolia has developed a social business to bring clean drinking water to rural population in arsenic
contaminated areas of Bangladesh. The first water treatment plant is in operation, and many more are
planned across Bangladesh.
Many more such social business collaborations which bring health benefits for rural population are being
developed.
Structure and Governance
GH will be a social business which will draw upon the experience and advice of an advisory board, a
network of subject matter experts, and partners at institutions worldwide.
An important part of the governance will be the advisory board, which will include leaders from Bangladesh
as well as other global leaders from highly ethical and patient-oriented organizations to ensure that the social
goals are being met and the interests of the patients are respected.
FAQs
Who can run a social business?
Can social business be applied to environmental issues?
Should social business avoid making profit?
What kind of non-monetary return could social businesses generate?
Equity investments from the SB fund into social businesses will (1) not cover the management costs
or profit for the fund (as no dividend can be given) and (2) will ultimately be a drain on the fund as
only the original investment amount can be returned to the fund?
If loans are given, the Fund will receive interests. If equity is given, will the Fund in return receive
shares and dividends on equity?
The funds which are given to the investees/borrowers can these be loans and equity or loans only?
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When selecting investees/borrowers, do these need to be social businesses? If yes what type of social
business?
Considering the relationship between the Social Business Fund and the investees/borrowers – is
this/does this need to be a social business relationship?
How do you very the measurement of the impact of the social business?
How do you measure the success of a social business?
Does it only have to be a multinational company investing?
Do the same laws of businesses govern social businesses?
If I do not have the funds to invest, but I have a good idea, whom should I contact?
Can someone who started a social business decide to take profit?
What is the difference between a social business type II and a PMB?
Do the fund investors get their money back?
Who will invest in social business? Why?
What is the forecast of sustainability?
Who runs the social businesses?
How much do social business managers and workers earn?
What is wrong with earning a profit?
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How can regular businesses and social businesses operate in the same market?
Will social businesses create competition with regular businesses?
Are social businesses taxed?
What is the difference between a donation to charity and donating to a social business fund?
What is the difference between corporations with donation programs and social businesses?
What is the difference between non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and social businesses?
What is the difference between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social business?
What is the definition of a type II social business?
What is the definition of a type I social business?
What is the definition of a social business?
How did the financial and economic crisis affect your social business activities so far?
Early social business examples are trying to overcome malnutrition, the lack of safe drinking water or
to improve access to health care and information technologies in developing countries. What other
social business opportunities can we find?
What about the ground realities? How can your yogurt factory, the tiny little seed, grow, if the prices
for milk are going up? You cannot simply adjust your selling price, because your customers are
extremely price sensitive.
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In CREATING A WORLD WITHOUT POVERTY, we have a few pages about the cooperative
movement, in which we say that a co-op is not a social business because it is not necessarily
dedicated to a social cause such as helping the poor. What about a co-op that does dedicate itself to
helping the poor–for example, a co-op of poor workers who band together to build and grow a
business? Could this be a social business?
There seem to be quite a few organizations with social missions that are financially self-supporting
thanks to business-style revenue streams from sales of goods and services. However, most were
started not through investments or loans but through charitable grants. Am I right in thinking that
these cannot be social businesses? If that is the case, does this affect our thinking about Grameen
Bank, since in its early years Grameen Bank did receive some grants from foundations and others?
Also, is there, in your view, a big disadvantage to using grants as a source of startup capital? If so,
what is it?
Are you aware of any organizations anywhere in the world that fit your definition of social business,
other than Grameen Bank and the various Grameen joint ventures you are working on (Danone, Intel,
Veolia, BASF)?
The definition of relative poverty in Germany is people whose income falls below 60% of the
average income. Is that a reasonable definition to use for the purposes of a Social Business Fund
there?
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Conclusion
The first responsibility to society is to operate at a profit, and only slightly less important is the necessity for
growth. The business is the wealth-creating and wealth-producing organ of the society. Management must
maintain its wealth-producing resource intact by making adequate profits to offset the risk of economic
activity. And it must beside increase the wealth-producing capacity of these resources and with them the
wealth of society.
Ethics play an importance role in social responsibility. The business organizations must have ethical
responsibility as they are doing business, including production, management, and services and so on.
Without ethics, it would be danger to the human. Ethics is simply the rules that say what is right and wrong,
as defined by a particular reference group or individual.
Social business is about making complete sacrifice of financial reward from business. It is about total
delinking from the old framework of business. It is not about accommodation of new objectives within the
existing framework. Unless this total delinking from personal financial gain can be established you'll never
discover the power of real social business. Sometimes you can set up a technically correct social business
with the purpose of making profit through your other companies by selling products or services to this social
business company. This will be a clear sabotage of the concept. There may be many other subtle ways by
which one can weaken the concept and practice of social business. A genuine social business investor must
make all efforts so that he does not walk into this trap unwittingly.
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References:
1. Wikipedia
2. http://www.muhammadyunus.org/index.php/social-business/social-business
3. http://www.grameencreativelab.com/a-concept-to-eradicate-poverty/7-principles.html
4. http://socialbusinessearth.org/
5. http://www.yunussb.com/
6. http://www.ibm.com/social-business/us/en/
7. http://socialbusinesspedia.com/sb_event/index/18
8. http://www.dhaka.diplo.de/Vertretung/dhaka/en/06/GSR/CSR__Business__idea.html
9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yunus_Centre
10. http://www.muhammadyunus.org/index.php/yunus-centre/yunus-centre-highlights/605-the-1st-
annual-social-business-day-celebration-in-dhaka-a-great-success-for-social-business