News

 Yunus Centre Press Release (25 June, 2020)

Social Business Day will be observed globally this year as well, on June 26-28, mostly in the virtual space.

The Live segment of the 10th Social Business Day 2020 will be held as the “Summer of Purpose” at Messe München, Munich, Germany, organized by Yunus Centre and Grameen Creative Lab. It will be a physical event in Munich hooked up with virtual events globally. It will bring change makers from politics, business, science, sports, art and culture to find new ways of doing business, ask the tough questions and pledge to create a better, sustainable world out of this pandemic, highlighting the  theme of “No Going Back” to the old world that we are coming from before the corona crisis.

This live Colloquium, enhanced by virtual participation from global social, business, and political leaders will provide a room for a dialogue ranging from the theories of science to the future of human life on this planet. Nobel laureate Professor Yunus will play the central role in this discussion in Munich virtually. Each of the three days will focus on a specific topic with top-class international partners. Participants from any part of the world can register themselves to join this discussion.

Special messages from personalities such as popular German political leader Wolfgang Schauble, President of the German Bundestag, Dr Markus Söder, Prime minister of Bavaria, Judith Gerloch, Bavarian State Minister for Digital Affairs, Dr. Ricarda Engelmeier, Founder of MyCollective will kick start the event. For three days there will be discussions on how innovatively we can tackle global social problems in the post corona world. This includes topics such as human rights, planetary rights, dialogue on value driven personal purpose, utilizing sports as a catalyst for change even during a pandemic to how to make Corona  vaccines as global pubic good.

On June 26, Professor Yunus will give a live opening speech on the theme of “No Going Back” which will focus on post corona redesigning of the world economy. He then will discuss courses of action in a session called “What really matters now” with political economist Maja Göpel secretary general of the German Government's Scientific Advisory Board on Global Environmental Change and Dr. Eckart v. Hirschhausen, a climate activist with Scientists for Future. Yunus will then join Mary Robinson, Former President of Ireland and Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at the session “The European Way II: From Corporate to Personal Responsibilities, Facing Europe 2025”.

On June 27, Yunus will co-host another session with HRH Grand Duchess Marie Thérèse of Luxembourg called “Stand Up, Speak Up, Rise Up!” Later on, the Nobel Laureate will join Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, a venue for social business Olympic Games 2024 and Philipp Lahm, Managing Director of UEFA Euro 2024 to talk about how can we get sports fans back into the game.

On June 28, during the Social Business Day, after a brief live conversation between Professor Yunus with Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, there will be a homage to the humanitarian accomplishments of Professor Muhammad Yunus, his colleagues and the nation builders of his generation across the world. June 28 (Day 3) is coincidentally the 80th birthday of the Nobel Laureate.

In addition to these events, there will be five virtual discussion sessions among various universities in Asia, Europe, Latin America and Australia which have established Yunus Social Business Centres (YSBCs) in their campuses. There are 84 YSBCs in 32 countries around the world. They will discuss the role of academia in the post Covid world.

Furthermore, Managing Directors from prominent social business companies in Bangladesh will hold key discussion sessions on major topics such as “Healthcare and Social Business in the context of Covid 19”, “Building Entrepreneurs: Microfinance and Nobin Program”, “Covid Response through Social Business”. A follow up session with Nobel Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus later will outline the ways the social business companies can help in creating a better world out of this pandemic.  

Several satellite events in various parts of the world will be held physically where possible but mostly virtually, during Social Business Day and the Summer of Purpose. These events will be virtual clusters of social business enthusiasts gathered together on any preferred digital communication where participants will discuss on themes around social business and rebuilding the post covid world. One such satellite event  will  be  the Expedition Camp organized by YY Ventures and YY Goshti, where 100 youth from the Asia Pacific will come together for a mindful experience where they will discuss ways in which we can start reconstruction for a new world through social and environmental consciousness-driven plans and actions. A similar satellite event will be held in China co-organized by Grameen China and the YSBCs at Renmin University, Beijing and Zhengzhou University.

Video clips from satellite events will be presented in Munich’s physical event and broadcast around the world.

This year’s Social Business Day will highlight the danger of returning back to the world we are coming from before the corona catastrophe took place. Professor Yunus is advocating a firm policy of “No Going Back” to the old world and transform the corona crisis into an opportunity to create a new world. This year it will also focus on unifying the world to make the Corona vaccine a global common good, with no patent rights belonging to anyone. It will advocate that the production of corona vaccine should be done locally.