Expand social business with the help of IT :This Is A Good Idea
Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus yesterday said information technology should be used to expand social business.He made the observation in a public speech at the third Global Social Business Summit in Vienna, Austria. Prof Yunus also emphasised social business and urged different companies to come forward in this respect.“Nowadays everybody holds the genie of Aladdin in his hand. In the story, the genie emerges with the touch of the hand… The genie is the cell phone having internet connection,” said Dr Yunus.Citing an example, he noted that a cell phone enables a pregnant woman to know about the condition of her unborn child only by answering some questions through it. “The cell phone should not be considered only as a medium of income but an opportunity to solve many problems,” said Prof Yunus.Nasa astronaut Ronald John Garan, who returned to earth last April after a six-month stay in space, also expressed his support for social business during his speech. “I extend my thanks to you [Yunus] for what you have done for the people of this fragile world. This book has travelled with me on the space mission. It rotated around the axis of the earth 2,624 times. The book has travelled 6,53,37,600 miles at a pace of 17,500 miles per hour,” Ronald wrote in the book before presenting it to its writer Prof Yunus.The activities on the second day of the conference were followed by the presentation of success stories and projects of different companies involved in social business. The companies are Intel, Violia, Mammu, Village Boom, BASF, Good B and Grameen Creative Club.The presentation was followed by a video message sent by Hollywood star Hugh Jackman wishing the conference a success. Prof Yunus also explained how Jackman became a Yunus-follower after reading his book 'Banker to the Poor'.UNTID Chief Philip Dousey Beji spoke on the occasion, focusing on poverty alleviation and Millennium Development Goal.Two panel discussions--'Social Business and Globalization' and 'Civil Society and Political Structure for Social Business'--were included on the second day's schedule of the summ
We feel in this age of tremendous concentration of wealthy and resultant equality and low standard of life of the great majority, social business can help in more distribution of wealth and poverty alleviation. Professor Yunus deserves very special thanks for this project. In passing we may mention that the principle of social business is a modified version Waqf espoused by Islam. In Waqf the donor donates an asset and the income of the asset is used for upliftment of the poor and the deprived. We believe Social business will be more acceptable to the West in solving its present problems. We urge all major companies to follow social business in some of their industrial and commercial enterprizes.In the Muslim world the companies can adopt Waqf or social business, whatever they feel convenient.
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