Yunus calls redesigning financial system & pushes for social business at Voice of Global South Summit

DHAKA — Muhammad Yunus, Chief Advisor of the Bangladesh government, on Saturday called for redesigning the financial system in the Global South to ensure wealth is shared by all and asserted that combining entrepreneurship with social business can create miracles.

“If we give an important place for social businesses, that is businesses which are created solely for fixing social and environmental problems,” the 84-year-old Nobel laureate said, adding, that it can set a path to create a world of three zeros – zero net carbon emissions, zero wealth concentration, and zero unemployment.

Yunus was addressing the ‘Third Voice of Global South Summit’ being hosted virtually by India.

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Pointing out that today’s youth want jobs, “just because they are prepared by an education system in all our countries to get ready for jobs” with their creative capacities forgotten, Yunush, the pioneer in microfinancing in Bangladesh, called for redesigning the system.

“Our education system and financial system are built only for creating job seekers and providing jobs for them. We have to redesign our system,” he said and hoped that it could be done together by the Global South, which is “rich with a fantastically creative young population.”

Combining entrepreneurship with social business can create miracles, said Yunus, who assumed office as the Chief Adviser of the interim government on August 8 amid the social and economic crisis in the country after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India on August 5.

“We would like to propose some common facilities in the Global South to take concrete steps to unleash the creativity and energy of our young population through social business,” the former professor known for his award-winning work in micro-finance said.

“My life-long experience has been that our financial system is created to promote wealth concentration. We have to redesign our financial system to make sure wealth is shared by all.” Yunus, who won a Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1984 for “his pioneering efforts in enabling rural men and women to become economically self-sufficient,” said.

“It should not be a one-way path for wealth. We must ensure financial services for all people, particularly women and youth. We can learn from each other how this can be done successfully,” he added.

“Finance should never be a wall for anybody. It should be designed to unleash entrepreneurship and creativity. Social business banks can be encouraged to be created for solving problems such as poverty and unemployment,” he said.

Yunus also invited the leaders of the Global South to work together to create social businesses to address all environmental and social problems and said, “It can become a massive force if we work together.”