Nobel Laureate Muhammed Yunus Coming to Decatur
Decatur Metro | August 18, 2010 | 11:27 am
A great get for the Decatur Book Festival and Agnes Scott College!
According to Daren Wang’s Verb.org, the two Decatur orgs, along with Coca-Cola, will be hosting a free event on Wednesday, August 25th at 8pm with Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his work with Microfinance, at Agnes Scott’s Presser Hall.
Yunus will be discussing his new book Building Social Business, which details his new initiative which the New York Times summarized back in May thusly…
In “Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism That Serves Humanity’s Most Pressing Needs”, [Yunus] calls for creation of an alternative economy of businesses devoted to helping the underprivileged.
The way he envisions it, these companies would be run as efficiently as the for-profit variety. Unlike charities, they would make enough money to be self-sustaining. However, they would invest leftover money in expanding their humanitarian efforts rather than paying dividends to shareholders.
People “will be delighted to create businesses for selfless purposes,” Dr. Yunus predicts. “The only thing we’ll have to do is to free them from the mind-set that puts profit-making at the heart of every business, an idea that we imposed on them through our flawed economic theory.”
Intriguing.
I’m glad it’s free. I was worried I’d need a micro-loan to pay for a ticket.
Boy am I chatty today.
If anyone deserves the Nobel, it’s Mr. Yunus. He has made life better for thousands of people, especially women in societies where they are second-class citizens, through his microloan program. He exemplifies the finest combination of capitalism and social ideals, which is the rarest of abilities in this ugly world.
Absolutely spot-on, Token. I’ve been an admirer of Mr. Yunus’ ever since I learned about him & what he does. In the interviews I’ve seen with him, he just seems like such a lovely, self-effacing person, but very passionate in his belief that big changes can come with small steps. I will definitely be in the audience to see him!
Are some kind of tickets needed nonetheless?
No tix needed. Also, Coca Cola is a partner in this.
One of my heroes! Can’t wait!