Social Business

Last calendar week my oldest boy graduated from college. The football game stadium was total of proud parents, most of whom watched the entire effect through a photographic television set camera lens. On the field, a foreign medieval procession was taking place, consummate amongst ancient looking robes, lxx lb pure silvery staff, a chaplain in addition to what looked to last a bunch of castles inward the background; a typical graduation from a typical quondam in addition to well-endowed University. That is until Muhammad Yunus took the stage.

I didn’t know much nearly Professor Yunus until that moment. He was an average looking middle historic current man, wearing an ill-fitting dark gown in addition to a funny looking cap. His vocalization is soft in addition to he volition non last remembered for his slap-up orations. According to the graduating grade of 2010 at Duke University, his speech communication was “yeah, OK, whatever”.  For me it was a Revelation; 1 of those moments that you lot hollo back for the residuum of your life inward slap-up brilliant detail. About 5 minutes into the offset address, it wasn’t nearly my man child joining the ranks of educated people in addition to it wasn’t nearly a parent’s pride in addition to joy of seeing a kid graduating amongst multiple majors in addition to contemplating the slap-up time to come of graduate schoolhouse in addition to a well-chosen career path. It was nearly poverty, hunger in addition to misery everywhere, surrounding this school, these lucky children, on this glorious day, similar a mighty body of body of water around a tiny shiny island.

Muhammad Yunus is out to eradicate poverty. As unproblematic as that. As an economist from Bangladesh, he left his Ivory Towers in addition to discovered a unproblematic truth. Poverty does non reside inward the poor. Poverty is arbitrarily imposed yesteryear our arrangement on every bit talented in addition to creative people, who are denied the opportunities available to the lucky few. Professor Yunus’s life piece of job is to convey those opportunities to the poor. He founded a banking concern for the poor, owned yesteryear the miserable in addition to servicing the miserable amongst micro-loans, mainly to women, women who eventually alive to witness their ain kid graduating from college amongst a professional person degree.

Muhammad Yunus calls it a “Social Business” - a concern whose operate is non to amass profits for its founders in addition to shareholders, only instead to ameliorate gild in addition to solve 1 social problem; a profitable in addition to sustainable business, non a charity. His Grameen Bank for the miserable is thriving inward these times of global fiscal crisis, in addition to expanding to other countries including the US. Muhammad Yunus is proposing to harness the ability of the costless marketplace to solve the problems of poverty, hunger in addition to inequality. In 2006, Muhammad Yunus was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for his work.

Why am I writing nearly this on a Healthcare Technology blog? After MD Yunus completed his offset speech, in addition to later the obligatory standing applause, he returned to the phase as if he forgot to nation something, grabbed the microphone in addition to said that he is straightaway using the same principles to convey universal wellness tending to Bangladesh, wellness tending for every someone inward every village.

As nosotros search for a solution to American Health Care problems in addition to feverishly essay Innovation, Muhammad Yunus may already pick out the answers. His innovative Social Business approach, his novel build of a to a greater extent than humane cast of capitalism, working amongst in addition to inside a costless marketplace system, could really good last the elusive missing slice of our ain puzzle.