Tennessee

https://ssir.org/books/reviews/entry/review_creating_a_world_without_poverty

"The title of Muhammad Yunus’ new book, Creating a World Without Poverty, gives a sense of his vision’s sweep, but only hints at his ambition. He wants not only to end global poverty and related problems such as gender discrimination, social exclusion, and lack of access to health care and education, but also to eliminate environmental degradation and extreme inequality. In short, Yunus wants to create a more just society for all.

Yunus presents his ideas for solving the world’s social problems as he outlines how Bangladesh can develop more successfully; updates the history of the Grameen Bank, for which most readers will know him; offers his thoughts on the potential of technology to help end poverty; and details his ideas on international norms and governance.

But his main tool for alleviating the world’s ills is social business, which he defines as financially sustainable but non-dividend- paying enterprises established to solve social and environmental problems. These enterprises are controlled by shareholders (either donors or the poor), and donors get their initial investment back, though any additional profits created by the enterprise are plowed back into the work. To illustrate his idea of a social business, Yunus weaves through the book the fascinating case study of Grameen Danone, a joint venture between Grameen and the French multinational food product company Danone.

Yunus sees many sources from which these new social businesses can originate: existing companies, foundations, the World Bank and other agencies, government development funds, successful entrepreneurs looking for a next activity, wealthy retirees, and recent college graduates. Indeed, all of these sources hold promise."...(more)