Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism

by Muhammad Yunus

Overview

In the last two decades, free markets have swept the globe. But traditional capitalism has been unable to solve problems like inequality and poverty. In Muhammad Yunus' groundbreaking sequel to Banker to the Poor, he outlines the concept of social business — business where the creative vision of the entrepreneur is applied to today's most serious problems: feeding the poor, housing the homeless, healing the sick, and protecting the planet. Creating a World Without Poverty reveals the next phase in a hopeful economic and social revolution that is already underway.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781586486679
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	01/06/2009
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Muhammad Yunus is the founder of Grameen Bank and more than fifty other companies in Bangladesh. He is widely known as both the father of microcredit and of the social business movement. In 2006, Professor Yunus and Grameen Bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He is one of only seven individuals to have received the Nobel Peace Prize, the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the United States Congressional Gold Medal. Yunus is the recipient of fifty-five honorary degrees from universities in twenty countries, and has received 112 awards from twenty-six countries, including state honors from ten countries.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Starting with a Handshake     ix
The Promise of Social Business
A New Kind of Business     3
Social Business: What It Is and What It Is Not     21
The Grameen Experiment
The Microcredit Revolution     43
From Microcredit to Social Business     77
The Battle against Poverty: Bangladesh and Beyond     103
God Is in the Details     129
One Cup of Yogurt at a Time     149
A World Without Poverty
Broadening the Marketplace     165
Information Technology, Globalization, and a Transformed World     187
Hazards of Prosperity     203
Putting Poverty in Museums     223
Epilogue: "Poverty Is a Threat to Peace"-The Nobel Prize Lecture     235
For Further Information     249
Index     251

Editorial Reviews

With its idealistic title, this book seems like a prime candidate for knee-jerk dismissal. But consider the author's credentials: Economist Muhammad Yunus is the winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and the founder of the highly successful Grameem Bank, which specializes in making loans to the poor. Creating a World Without Poverty outlines a new business model that utilizes the power of free markets to truly unleash human potential.

(I)n Creating A World Without Poverty, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus argues convincingly that social business is an achievable way of exploiting capitalism to help the poor. Yunus moves the debate beyond the tired argument that the rich should simply donate to those less privileged, and demonstrates that the free market can in fact be used to the advantage of the less well off…This book is a must-read for policymakers or philanthropists, and its conversational style and straightforward logic also make it appealing to the layperson.

Scotland on Sunday

an inspiring volume, full of practical information for people who are motivated to try out his ideas.

BusinessWeek

In this excellent work of popular economics, he tells the story of how he came to the idea and the impressive results it has generated.

Winnipeg Free Press

The influential economist and winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize outlines his vision for a new business model that combines the power of of free markets with the quest for a more humane world. Includes stories of companies that are already doing social business.

Bookseller

Economics professor Yunus claims he "originally became involved in the poverty issue not as a policy-maker, scholar, or researcher, but because poverty was all around me." With these words he stopped teaching "elegant theories" and began lending small amounts of money, $40 or less, without collateral, to the poorest women in the world. Thirty-three years later, the Grameen Bank has helped seven million people live better lives building businesses to serve the poor. The bank is solidly profitable, with a 98.6% repayment rate. It inspired the micro-credit movement, which has helped 100 million of the poorest people in the world escape poverty and earned Yunus (Banker to the Poor) a Nobel Peace prize. This volume efficiently recounts the story of microcredit, then discusses "Social Business," organizations designed to help people while turning profits. French food giant Danone's partnership to market yogurt in Bangladesh is described in detail, along with 25 other businesses that operate under the Grameen banner. Infused with entrepreneurial spirit and the excitement of a worthy challenge, this book is the opposite of pessimistic recitals of intractable poverty's horrors. (Jan.)

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