MUBS to embrace incubation of social ideas as a way of ending unemployment

By John Kusolo

As one of the keynote speakers during the opening ceremony of the 12th annual Social Business Day , Prof. Waswa Balunywa Principal MUBS paid tribute to Yunus who has visited Uganda twice and wished him a happy 82nd birthday. He said that MUBS is aimed at realising a World of 3ZEROS: zero net carbon emission, zero wealth concentration for ending poverty, and zero unemployment through entrepreneurship. He explained that because of Covid-19 Uganda’s academic sector was heavily affected by the longest lock-down of 2 years which affected the semester cycle and MUBS are fighting to have the semester start in January.

Prof. Balunywa encouraged many to start up as MUBS is set to embrace the incubation of social ideas. He argued that those who claim that this is Africa’s time don’t know what they are talking about as it is not ready to compete globally. The only way for Africa to get out of poverty is changing the concept to social business. He gave an example of a Ugandan farmer earning only 1 dollar from a Kilogram of Coffee while the final person earns 30 dollars which he said is not fair and must change. For Uganda in particular and Africa as a whole to grow, Prof. Balunywa says that we must have a new business model because there is no level playground for business in African countries. It is only through social business ideas. Also the rate of unemployment is too high and poverty increasing day by day.

Prof. Balunywa says if the social business idea is about profit, it will not solve the problem of African countries. He added that MUBS will do more research because social business is one of the firm issues of developing Uganda and Africa at large. Prof. Balunywa also added that MUBS is spearheading the environmental campaign of disposal off plastics .

Other speakers included Nobel Peace Prize laureate and East Timor President H.E. Jose Ramos-Horta who said that building sustainable peace for civilization is a proactive and thoughtful title. He blamed governments for doing nothing than instituting lockdowns to control the Covid-19 pandemic that has led millions of people thrown back into poverty.

He urged the G7, G20 to adapt practises that will stop climate change and also stop child slavery. He promised that during this term of office, he promises to end child malnutrition, child poverty, work with neighbours like Indonesia to make the region more peaceful and return Myanmar to democracy.

Lastly, he compelled the rich governments to change course before we are all brought to the edge of the precipice.

Social Business Day is an annual event organized by the Yunus Centre as a global family gathering that platforms the accumulated experiences of social business leaders and entrepreneurship to give shape to the future.

This year, Social Business Day is taking place as an online and in-person hybrid event focused on East Africa and runs from June 27-30, 2022. The theme of SOCIAL BUSINESS DAY 2022 will be: Building a New Civilisation—Before the Current Civilisation Destroys Us.

The current civilisation which is based on profit maximisation has set us on a suicidal path. Global warming, wealth concentration, and unemployment caused by artificial intelligence are leading us to our ultimate extinction. Our window of opportunity to put humanity on a new path towards a new direction is getting smaller and smaller. We must prepare the seed-bed of a new civilisation before the opportunity slips away.

The new civilisation has to be built on an economy based primarily on zero personal profit to solve the problems of the people and the planet. Social business presents this option. Social business aims at finding compassionate, practical, and long-lasting solutions to social issues while expanding opportunities for the people and the economy. The new civilisation will analyse the break-throughs achieved while preparing for the next leg of our journey before our time runs out.

The Social Business Day 2022 event is centered around "Building a New Civilisation—Before the Current Civilisation Destroys Us." Contribute your creative ideas, build new teams to make new break-throughs, meet old friends and make new ones to accomplish our goal.

Social Business Day 2022 is featuring plenary sessions, workshops, and country forums in which participants can exchange ideas and information. Besides English being the language of the event, some sessions will be hosted in languages in Bengali, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, French and Portuguese; these sessions will be simultaneously presented during country-specific forums.

The topics for the main event include: Social Businesses in Microcredit, Education, Healthcare, Arts and Creativity, Technology, Youth, Sports, 3ZERO Clubs, and all aspects of building a New Civilisation.

The event includes the annual convention of the “3ZERO Clubs," a global initiative for the youth aimed at realising a World of 3ZEROS: zero net carbon emission, zero wealth concentration for ending poverty, and zero unemployment through entrepreneurship. This convention of the youths will give an opportunity to the members of senior generations to listen to the issues being discussed by the present day youth and catch any opportunity to build bridges among the generations.

Combined forces of global warming, extreme wealth concentration and the pandemic have unexpectedly created a very special chapter of world history. We see this as an opportunity to create a new civilisation to save the planet and its people.

SBD 2022 wants to take up this opportunity to create momentum and expedite the process of redesigning the fundamental concepts and institutions on which human lives are organised on this planet. It aims at beginning a new history. It is a big task. We are passing through a time which demands nothing but a big task. You are invited to join us in making this big task a big success.

Please join us in celebrating the best of human creativity, ingenuity, and the entrepreneurial spirit. Let’s discover the best in ourselves together.

About the organizer

Professor Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker, economist, and civil society leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance. These loans are given to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. In 2006, Yunus and the Grameen Bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for their efforts through microcredit to create economic and social development from below”. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said that “lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty” and that “across cultures and civilizations, Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that even the poorest of the poor can work to bring about their own development”.